No, I’m not talking about a need for Facebook for Dogs. I’m talking about the interaction and contact networks that dogs have, which are important for understanding and mitigating infectious disease risks. Let’s use my dogs as an example.
Dog 1: Ozzie
The title says it all.
The latest version of A Guide to Mitigating the Risk of Infection in Veterinary Practices During the COVID-19 Pandemic (23-Dec-2021) has been released. It can also be accessed through the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association Coronavirus FAQ webpage (member login required).
Previous versions of the guidance and other related documents can
Here’s a bit of an odd-and-ends post covering some common questions I’ve been getting about COVID-19 and infection control in veterinary clinics. As always, answers are based on little or no evidence, but on principles of infection control, and they may change as we learn more and as this pandemic continues to evolve.
Would it
I’ve written several posts in the last two weeks about social distancing and small animal veterinary clinics. They’ve mostly focused on social distancing between veterinary personnel and pet owners. However, veterinary clinics almost always have multiple people working in the clinic itself, and sometimes close contact between staff is unavoidable. I’m getting lots of
I’ve written a lot about COVID-19 issues in veterinary medicine, but most of that material has focused on brick-and-mortar practices. There are lots of mobile veterinarians out there too, and they have different challenges with COVID-19. Small animal mobile veterinarians are at increased risk of exposure because they go into households where they can’t use
Shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) are a problem in many places right now because of massive demand (as well as hoarding and black market diversion) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Veterinary clinics facing shortages need to think about ways to extend the life of existing supplies, including conservation, extended use or reuse of items when
During my (limited) ventures outside of home or the College, it’s getting more common to see people walking around wearing nose-and-mouth masks.
My first thought is “Where are you getting those? They’re short in supply.”
My next thought is “Stop wasting masks! You don’t need them.”
My last one is “
Updated April 6: Revised guidance document
Ontario announced a shutdown of non-essential services yesterday. Wisely, veterinary medicine was classified as essential. However, it’s not business as usual. Rather, it’s “best as we can” given other restrictions and social distancing that are absolutely necessary to curb the spread of COVID-19. There’s no clear way to
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
It was a bit of a slog but we’ve posted the updated 2020 edition Infection Prevention and Control Best Practices for Small Animal Veterinary Clinics. In addition to updated information, the new version has many new and expanded subjects, and provides a comprehensive guide to infection control for veterinary hospitals.
