When a pet dog from Hong Kong tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus, people started asking all sorts of questions:
“Can they transmit the disease to humans?”
“Can all pets contract the disease?”
“Will we build tiny hospitals for Covid-19 pets?”
Two out of three of these are valid questions because obviously the human race is the most important species on Earth and no one actually cares about dogs when our lives are at stake.
Dog: You joke but I feel like it’s true.
It’s not, little doggo.
Unfortunately, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has not totally debunked this, saying that there is a “theoretical possibility” that the Covid-19 virus could spread from animals to humans.
MOH Says Theoretically Possible For Animals To Transmit Covid-19 To Humans
Now, before you freak out and start buying lots of Snickers bars for your poor dog, let me define “theoretically possible”.
If something is “theoretically possible” it means that it is technically possible because it does not go against the laws of the universe, but is not likely.
So, I could say that it is theoretically possible for me to become the Supreme Leader of North Korea, but it is highly unlikely, mostly because I can’t pull off that fabulous haircut.
That’s why when MOH said there’s a “theoretical possibility” that Covid-19 could spread from animals to humans, they qualified it with the statement that “pets are not a “serious vector” of transmission.”
When asked about the now-famous Hong Kong dog who tested positive for the disease, MOH’s director of Medical Services Kenneth Mak said that while there is no scientific evidence proving that the disease can spread from pets to pets or from animals to human or vice versa, he conceded that it could happen.
Again, I stress, he said it could happen, meaning it’s not beyond the realms of possibility.
“From the point of view of understanding that infection occurs by droplets, then it’s not impossible for contaminated droplets from a sick individual to then fall on a pet, just as it would on any other surface,” Assoc Prof Mak said.
“Therefore, if there are other individuals who might be touching those pets soon after the droplets are shared, there’s also a theoretical possibility of the virus spreading from individual to animal and animal to individual, just as it would if anyone actually touches a contaminated surface.”
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So, what should you do? Well, there’s one thing you definitely should not do:
Do not kill or abandon your pets
Reader: Does this mean that I have to… kill my dog?
What? Of course not! I just said- wait, why were you smiling when you asked that question?
Reader: Oh nothing *frowns* I am definitely very, uh, happy that it will get to live.
After the dog in Hong Kong tested positive for the disease, the World Organisation for Animal Health urged pet owners not to take any drastic measures, because there is still no concrete evidence that pets can transmit the virus to humans or that dogs can fall ill to the coronavirus.
They said this because some people in China started killing their cats and dogs after reading fake news that pets can carry and spread the virus.
Some even threw their pets out of their windows.
So, don’t panic. Just continue to practice good personal hygiene and you’ll be fine.
As my colleague mentioned a while ago, a small number of pets tested positive for SARS back in 2003, but none of them became sick, nor did they transmit the virus to their owners.
So, while you can limit contact with your pet if you suspect them to be infected with the virus, you absolutely should not throw them out of a window or harm them in any way.
If anything, we need our furry friends now more than ever in this gloomy period.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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