How to COVID – 19 Proof – Part II of IV – You, Your Pets & COVID – 19
****************Special Notice******************
1) It was reported yesterday that Chester County Hospital in West Chester was preparing for a large influx of
COVID-19 cases.
2) East Goshen Ambulance Service will do their best to take you to your hospital of choice. As local hospitals fill, your hospital of choice may be full for the time being.
3) It has been reported that Family Members may not enter the hospitals. Be prepared for this possibility.
Stay Healthy – Stay at Home – We will get through this together.
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The Series covers information on Your Health & Safety related to COVID – 19.
Because the information contained in the Series is timely and important to your health, each segment will quickly follow the first. There is a great deal of interesting and important information contained in this series. We recommend scrolling down through the contents and reading what interests you.
Part I: 4 IMPORTANT SHORT VIDEOS & 3 INTERESTING ARTICLES
Part II: You, Your Pets and Coronavirus Disease 2019
Part III: Practical Ways to Stay Healthy and Safe during COVID – 19
Part IV: The Bright Side
Part II: Update includes information on:
You and Your Pets
There is a great deal of interesting information contained in this email. We recommend scrolling down through the contents and reading what interests you.
The information about COVID – 19 is changing and updating daily, sometimes hourly, as scientist discover more and more about it. Worldwide, Doctors and Scientist are working on solutions, vaccines, treatment protocols and containment. Monitor Chester County Government, the Pennsylvania State Health Department, the CDC and other local news sources to keep up to date.
We, here in Hershey’s Mill, are in the at-risk category. The information below was gathered from a number of sources.
Life under Stay at Home orders for the majority of Hershey’s Mill residents means leaving your home for essentially four things, including trips for:
– food, including grocery stores or take out,
– pharmacy,
– doctor or vet for our pets, only after calling first as most ‘visits’ are telemedicine visits today. Medicare has recently approved telemedicine as covered.
– exercise keeping a safe distance apart. For us here in HM, we can walk on our many walking trails and for this special period of time on the golf course until it reopens for play.
YOU, YOUR PETS, AND CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19)
by Dr. Wilbur B. Amand
General Background Information: In December of 2019, China announced an outbreak of pneumonia in people of the Chinese city of Wuhan, capital of Hubei province. The infectious agent was identified as a new coronavirus, then termed SARS-Cov-2. In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) named the new virus as 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). By February 11, this new novel coronavirus was definitively named SARS-Cov-2 (Coronavirus Disease 2019 or COVID-19).
Coronaviruses belong to a large virus family which can infect a number of species, including mammals, birds, and fish. Canine coronavirus may cause mild diarrhea in dogs and feline coronavirus may cause a condition known as feline infectious peritonitis in cats. These coronaviruses ARE NOT associated with the current coronavirus outbreak known as COVID-19.
Some Key Points and Current Update as of March 27, 2020:
· Coronaviruses that infect animals can become able to infect people, but this is rare. At the moment there is no research to support human to animal spread of COVID-19.
· We do not know with certainty the exact source of the current outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, there is some suggestion that bats may have been the original source. This remains to be confirmed.
· We DO NOT have evidence that companion animals, including pets, can spread COVID-19. That said, on February 26, Hong Kong health officials placed a dog under quarantine after hospitalizing its owner for COVID-19 infection. Veterinarians confirmed the coronavirus infection after taking nasal and oral swabs. The WHO published a report of the emerging disease, listing this case as the first known COVID-19 infection in dogs. This dog, a 17 year old Pomeranian who was exhibiting signs of underlying chronic illnesses prior to testing positive for COVID-19, died in mid-March without showing any signs of disease related to COVID-19.
As of March 16, no other dogs and no cats have been diagnosed with COVID-19 with the WHO.
· People infected with COVID-19 should limit contact with their pets. Do not let them lick you. Make sure your wash your hands after your touch, feed or clean up after your pet.
· It is important to include your pet in your family’s preparedness planning – have enough pet food, cat litter, any your pets medications to last at least two weeks. Make sure that your pet’s medical records and vaccinations are up to date in the event you can’t care for them or need to board your pet.
· IF you think your pet may have an infectious disease, you should contact your veterinarian.
Current Update:
This is a quick update on more recent information regarding pets and COVID-19:
1. Hong Kong has tested 17 dogs and 8 cats from households with confirmed COVID-19 cases or persons in close contact with confirmed patients. Only two dogs have tested positive using a PCR test for the COVID-19 virus.
2. These findings indicate that dogs and cats are not infected easily with this virus, and there is no evidence that [pets] play a role in the spread of the virus. However, taking a precautionary approach, it is recommended quarantining animals from households with confirmed COVID-19 human cases.
3. The first cat to test positive to COVID-19 has been reported by the Public Health Service in Liege, Belgium. The cat lived in close contact with its owner and started showing symptoms a week after the owner died.
4. Idexx Laboratories started testing samples from dogs, cats, and horses for the coronavirus strain responsible for COVID-19. More than 3500 samples were submitted from South Korea and all 50 U.S. States including from areas (but not necessarily from animals in direct contact with a human case) experiencing human COVID-19 cases. To date, zero have tested positive.
5. To date, the American Veterinary Medical Association is unaware of any animal testing in the US of animals known to have been in contact with COVID-19 humans, although we understand that plans are under consideration to do some limited testing of dogs and cats that have been exposed to positive humans.
Below is the link to an article from USA Today reviewed by Dr. Amand and here are his wise words:
IMPORTANT NOTE from Dr. Amand:
“Even though there currently is no evidence that COVID-19 can infect dogs/cats and no evidence that dogs can then transmit the virus back to humans, THERE IS some concern that dogs/cats that are in households where a human is infected with COVID-19 and coughing/sneezing, the fur coat of the dog/cat may become contaminated and could be a source of infection should a human pet that contaminated animal. So the directive is to wash your hands when handling pets, pet food, or pet waste.” To date, we confirm that there is still no information proving that SARS-CoV-2 infection in a dog or cat can be passed on to other animals or to humans.
The above information is condensed from information provided by the WHO, CDC, AVMA and the School of Veterinary Medicine, Univ. of Pennsylvania.
Wilbur B. Amand, VMD
Pets
– If you’re sick, ask someone you live with to take care of them while you recover
– Please check on your neighbors regularly. A simple phone call checking in may make all the difference in someone’s day. We are all in this together – call a neighbor or two today. If you just moved here an don’t know any one, call one of your Village Council members.
-Please communicate this information to any neighbor that does not receive emails.
– Please check with your friends and neighbors to be sure they see the COVID-19 emails.
We thank you for your understanding and patience as we navigate these unprecedented times.
