With all the stress of these extraordinary times, there are countless good news stories about people stepping up to help. These often get buried amid the scarier news stories, but they’re important to recognize – not that people are doing it for recognition, but to show our resilience. I never thought I’d be writing about
COVID-19 update: Another positive dog
The Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department has reported another SARS-CoV-2 positive dog. Similar to the first positive dog, the 2-year-old German Shepherd is from a household with an infected owner and, as per Hong Kong’s current approach, was quarantined and then tested. Like the last dog, this is thought to be
SARS-CoV-2 environmental survival
It’s truly amazing how much we know about COVID-19 and the virus that causes it (SARS-CoV-2), considering it was only identified a few months ago. However, there are still lots of basic things we don’t understand (yet).
One important question is whether the environment is a significant source of infection. When people breathe, cough, talk
Social distancing and veterinary medicine: Are they compatible?
As the need for social distancing becomes abundantly clear, we need to figure out what that means. This isn’t a two-week venture anymore. A much longer period of social distancing will be required to help limit the damage from COVID-19. The challenge is maintaining some semblance of normal activities in the meantime.
Where does veterinary
Dog walking programs and COVID-19
As people adapt to the new (temporary) normal of social distancing, and try to take measures to protect our highest risk populations (especially the elderly), a lot of interesting questions come up. One recent question was about dog walking programs. In some areas, people are looking at offering dog walking services to seniors to help
COVID-19 miscellaneous FAQ
It’s pretty much full time COVID-19 around here, and I’ve gotten behind on posting. I figured it might be useful to recap some of the more common questions that are going around:
Does the SARS-CoV-2 virus (virus that causes COVID-19) infect animals?
Yes. But…
…The virus likely originated in and animal of some kind, and
Surgical mask shortages in veterinary hospitals
One major trickle-down effect of widespread disease outbreaks can be a shortage of certain supplies. As COVID-19 has emerged and spread in humans, availability of items such as nose-and-mouth (e.g. surgical) masks rapidly decreased because of hoarding, diversion to the black market, increased unnecessary use and increased legitimate use. In such a situation, veterinary clinics
COVID-19 virus in a dog: Update March 4
I’ve written a couple times about the dog in Hong Kong that was identified as positive for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) on February 26th. The initial thought (hope?) was that it was not really an infection but a positive result from contamination from the infected owner. The additional positive test result two days
COVID-19 virus in a dog: Update March 2
A recent report to the OIE indicates that the dog in China that initially tested as a “weak positive” for the COVID-19 virus last week (February 26th) was positive again on retesting on February 28th. That’s more suggestive of the dog being truly infected, versus a positive from transient contamination from the infected owner.
Canadian COVID-19 FAQ
The Public Health Agency of Canada has released a list of frequently asked questions on COVID-19, which includes a section on animals. Click here to read the COVID-19 FAQ.