Hong Kong Recommends Quarantining Pets If Owners Have COVID-19

What comes to mind when you see this little guy?

A cute little bundle of joy that showers you with unconditional love? But what if I told you it’s actually a diseased being that can infect you with a deadly virus that could claim your life?

Reader: Is that true?

Well, probably not.

Hong Kong Recommends Quarantining Pets If Owners Have COVID-19

Hong Kong’s Department of Health is strongly recommending that pets of confirmed COVID-19 patients undergo a 14-day quarantine after a pet Pomeranian of one patient again registered a “weak positive” for the virus that causes the disease in a second test.

Oral and nasal samples recently taken from the pet dog tested “weak positive” on Friday (28 Feb), the same result as obtained in a test on Thursday (27 Feb).

The department said it would continue to do tests on the dog, which would not be returned until the results were negative.

Poor doggo.

Other pets of COVID-19 patients, including a cat and a Shiba Inu dog, tested negative for the virus.

Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the communicable disease branch of the Centre for Health Protection, said that the health authorities would review the entire list of 94 patients to see if any had pets that would need to undergo testing.

Before you decide to keep your pets in the toilet for 14 days, read on.

No Evidence Pets Could Contract Disease or Infect Others

Now, despite the dog’s “weak positive” test, it had not shown any symptoms.

Plus, as Dr Chuang said, there was no evidence to suggest pets could either contract the coronavirus or be a source of infection.

Dr Michael Bradley from Stanley Veterinary Centre agrees with this sentiment;

“There is no need to panic. There is no evidence yet that the virus can infect dogs, cats or other domestic animals,” he said. “It’s possible that the dog had the virus due to environmental contamination. A dog can be an object that carries the virus the same way as anything else, like a tissue.”

Moreover, Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a respiratory medicine expert from Chinese University, also said that despite the pet’s weak positive result, it did not mean it had been infected.

While it’s possible that droplets from the infected pet owner had contaminated the environment or the dog, there’s no evidence to support this.

The Pomeranian that tested “weak positive” is also quite old and rarely goes out; its clubbing days are clearly in the past.

This means that its close contacts are only the people that it lives with, who have both already been sent to quarantine.

So, in other words, there’s no reason to panic. 

Precautionary Measures

Now, while there’s no evidence to suggest that pets can contract and spread the disease, there are a few things you can do as a pet owner just to be safe.

Dr Florence Chan, secretary of the HKVA’s executive committee, advised pet owners to wash their hands after coming into contact with their pets and avoid taking their animals to dirty places.

She also advised owners to wash their pets’ paws with soap after taking them outside.

She said that if owners found this insufficient, they could put “shoes” on their pets’ paws that could be removed and sanitised separately.

Dog: Uh yeah that’s not happening

Why not?

Dog: I’ll look lame in front of my friends

Ok but what’s more important, style or my life?

Dog: Style

I think I need a new dog.