Today's News: April 06, 2020

World News

 

Bill Gates On Coronavirus Pandemic: ‘Things Won’t Go Back To Truly Normal Until We Have A Vaccine’

Inquisitor – Five years ago, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, warned that the United States is not prepared to handle a pandemic outbreak. The coronavirus is now ravaging the nation and his predictions appear to be coming true, so Gates has gotten a lot of media attention, with reporters asking him to weigh in on how the pandemic is being handled.

On Sunday, Gates appeared on Fox News, warning that “things won’t go back to truly normal” until an effective vaccine is developed. Per Mediaite, speaking with anchor Chris Wallace, Gates described the coronavirus pandemic as a “nightmare scenario” for the United States, urging the government to continue with lockdown and social distancing measures.

Such measures, according to Gates, are necessary in order to reduce the risk of having “the majority of the people infected and then a massive number seeking hospital care and lots and lots of death.” If the government doesn’t back down, and if Americans continue following social distancing guidelines, “we should be able to get out of this with the death number well short of” the coronavirus task force’s projections, according to the billionaire.

According to experts appointed to lead the task force, between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans will die of coronavirus, even if guidelines are strictly followed. “It’s very important that those numbers are out there,” Gates said, noting that he nevertheless believes the number will be significantly lower “if we get the testing fixed, we get all 50 states involved.”

Gates conceded that imposing strict measures would harm the economy, stating that the country will “pay a huge economic price” in order to contain the virus. He warned that normal activities can only resume once a vaccine is available to everyone. 

“It is fair to say things won’t go back to truly normal until we have a vaccine that we’ve gotten out to basically the entire world,” he said.

 

UK MINISTERS ‘NO LONGER DISCOUNTING’ THEORY THAT COVID-19 LEAKED FROM WUHAN LAB – REPORT

RT – Suggestions that Covid-19 was man-made were thought to be mere conspiracy theories unsupported by any actual proof, but it has now emerged that this possibility was discussed at the highest level in the UK

Senior members of the UK government have become less skeptical of the fringe theory that the coronavirus pandemic came from a lab in Wuhan, China, the original epicenter of the outbreak, high-ranked sources told the Daily Mail.

A member of Cobra, the emergency committee led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, told the papaer that while it’s still believed that the virus originated from animals, intelligence reports have not ruled out the possibility that the deadly illness was man-made.

“There is a credible alternative view [to the zoonotic theory] based on the nature of the virus. Perhaps it is no coincidence that there is that laboratory in Wuhan. It is not discounted,” the unnamed source told the British paper.

Rumors that the Chinese authorities had something to do with the outbreak have been solely based on the fact that Wuhan is home to the Institute of Virology. The facility, which is believed to have the most advanced labs in China, is located a dozen kilometers from the wildlife market that was pinpointed by Beijing as the source of the pandemic. Experts at the institute were the first to suggest that the disease had been transmitted to humans from bats.

Suggestions that Covid-19 was man-made were thought to be mere conspiracy theories unsupported by any actual proof, but it has now emerged that this possibility was discussed at the highest level in the UK.

 

Privacy-minded Germans wary as Berlin develops nationwide Covid-19 tracking app & calls for EU-wide system

RT – Germany is pushing for the creation of a smartphone app that will monitor Covid-19 cases across the European Union. Its own plan to create a nationwide system has already raised eyebrows.

The government is working with developers and testers to get the high-tech tool “to the point that we can bring it into widespread use among the population in the coming days or weeks,” Head of the Chancellery Helge Braun told local media on Monday. The app has been billed as one way in which a nationwide shutdown to contain the virus could be eased and eventually lifted. The government has said obligatory face masks in public, as well as a limit on public gatherings, would also help accelerate a return to normalcy. The lockdown is scheduled to end on April 19.

Stressing that it would only be a short-term solution to tracking coronavirus cases, Braun said that the EU “definitely” needs a bloc-wide system. “The worst thing that can happen is that there are many different tracking apps,” he argued.

It’s still unclear how such an app would work in Germany, and especially Europe as a whole. Attracting wide-scale voluntary participation in such a program might hinge on whether users feel comfortable handing over personal information, as well as data about their current location, to their governments. Germany has emphasized that any data collected by the app — which will inform users if they are in an area where there is a coronavirus-positive individual — will not be stored.

 

Ecuador city has corpses in street

RT – s the coronavirus pandemic rips through Ecuador, some cities are struggling to cope with a deluge of fatalities, pushing residents to make harrowing pleas for help as the bodies of loved ones accumulate in the streets.

The port city of Guayaquil, around 260 miles south of the capital, Quito, has been hit especially hard in the outbreak, leaving hospitals and morgues utterly overwhelmed in a flood of new patients and deaths. With local authorities unable to keep up with the influx of casualties, President Lenin Moreno has created a task force to tackle the problem, tapping Jorge Wated, board chairman at BanEcuador – a self-described “public development bank” – to lead the effort.

Seeking to ramp up the collection of bodies, Wated has allowed funeral homes to sidestep a nationwide curfew to work into the night to gather the deceased, and has dispatched teams of soldiers and police to pick up corpses from homes, hospitals and even streets around the city.

The efforts have still fallen short, however, sending countless citizens to social media to make desperate pleas for help, appealing directly to Wated through his Twitter account, where he shares frequent updates on the grim task at hand.

“Help me for the love of God,” one person said to Wated earlier this week, providing a home address and the name of a deceased man. “Nobody takes him… what do I do? I beg you.”

“Jorge. I have a case. Deceased going for 3 days. Already decomposed. Please… contact me,” another man wrote.  

Left with few other options, social media appears to be the last recourse for many residents, with some of Wated’s tweets garnering dozens of similar urgent requests.

 

ITALY ‘PHASE TWO’

Reuters – Italy reported its lowest daily COVID-19 death toll for more than two weeks on Sunday as authorities began to look ahead to a second phase of the battle against the new coronavirus once the lockdown imposed almost a month ago is eventually eased.

The toll from the world’s deadliest outbreak reached 15,887, almost a quarter of the global death total, but the rise of 525 from a day earlier was the smallest daily increase since March 19, while the number of patients in badly stretched intensive care units fell for a second day running.

“The curve has reached a plateau and begun to descend,” said Silvio Brusaferro, head of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy’s top health institute. “It is a result that we have to achieve day after day.”

“If this is confirmed, we need to start thinking about the second phase and keep down the spread of this disease.”

The total number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus rose by 4,316 to 128,948, the lowest increase in five days, which added to signs the epidemic has reached a plateau, about six weeks after it broke out in northern Italy on Feb. 21.

Sunday’s figures added to growing signs the tough restrictions on movement and public gatherings imposed across the country on March 9 were having an effect in containing the epidemic, but officials have been desperate to avoid a letup.

 

Journalists threatened and detained as countries on multiple continents restrict coverage

Washington Post – From Latin America to Russia, governments have tried to shape coverage so it avoids criticism or information that authorities deem harmful to public order. Questioning of official accounts has drawn fines, police investigations and the expulsion of foreign correspondents. In some countries, the virus has provided a pretext for governments to pass emergency legislation that is likely to curb freedoms long after the contagion has been extinguished.

The consequences could amount to life or death, free-press advocates say.

“During a public health emergency, there are extremely strong requirements of governments to provide truthful information to the public so that we as individuals and in our communities can make decisions about what we should be doing,” said David Kaye, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression. “That depends on a vibrant press that doesn’t feel that when it reports that it could be subject to intimidation, threats or even criminal sanction.”

 

WHO director faces calls for resignation over handling of coronavirus, China

Fox – Amid persistent criticism that his organization failed to properly oversee China’s coronavirus response and worked to downplay the communist nation’s responsibility for the pandemic, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is facing growing calls for his resignation from American politicians and others around the world.

Calls have been led by Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., who last week on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria” told host Maria Bartiromo that she has “never trusted a communist” and that the Chinese government’s “cover-up of this virus that originated with them has caused unnecessary deaths around America and around the world… I think Dr. Tedros needs to step down.”

She continued on Friday, placing part of the blame for China’s lack of transparency on the WHO director-general.

 

Ruby Princess cruise ship at center of criminal investigation in Australia following coronavirus outbreak

Fox – Police in New South Wales, Australia, have launched a criminal investigation into the situation surrounding the Ruby Princess cruise ship, which has been linked to a significant coronavirus outbreak in the region.

The ship, which is operated by Princess Cruises, itself a subsidiary of the Carnival Corporation, is believed to be the epicenter of an outbreak linked to at least 662 cases of COVID-19 and 11 deaths as of Sunday, The Guardian reported.

 

U.S. News, Politics & Government

 

REBELLION: ‘This Is Not Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia Where You Are Asked For Your Papers!’ Says Maine Sheriff

PJ Media – Maine’s Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols has a strong message for the Governor of Maine, Janet Mills, who issued “stay-at-home” orders with threats of police punishment if not followed. Sheriff Nichols issued a statement on the Franklin County Facebook page saying in no uncertain terms he will not follow the unconstitutional order.

“We will not be setting up a Police State. PERIOD,” he wrote. “The Sheriff’s Office will not purposefully go out and stop vehicles because they are on the road or stop and ask why people are out and about. To do so puts our officers at risk. This is not Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia where you are asked for your papers!”

The sheriff’s announcement comes as a welcome sign to Americans who have been arrested for inane things like praying outside, surfing, or trying to drive to work. Someone has to stand up to the unconstitutional directives that are being handed down daily by government officials and it will fall on the sheriffs to uphold what they know to be their legal and lawful duties, none of which involve trampling the rights of citizens.

“Please use common sense during this executive order. We are more interested in the safety and well-being of the public as well as our officers at this time. With that being said, we are sworn to uphold the Constitution and laws of the State – for any unlawful act/situation, arrestees will be taken into custody and transported for fingerprinting and bail.”

LA Mayor Enlists Citizen ‘Snitches’ to Tattle on Neighbors Who Violate Stay-at-Home Order

Nichols made it clear that he only intends to arrest for matters of law-breaking, and nothing else. Executive orders aren’t laws. He finished his announcement with words of encouragement for his constituents: “Most of you are doing a fantastic job – we appreciate that! Please look out for one another, especially the elderly and shut-ins. Please be a good neighbor/citizen always showing compassion. Please be kind especially on social media, negativity online only adds to the stress people are currently experiencing.”

Nichols signed this brave decree with his name and followed it with “Of the People, For the People.”

 

Some 430,000 people flew from China to US after coronavirus first detected: report

Fox – About 430,000 people have flown on direct flights from China to the United States since Chinese officials first disclosed the outbreak of what is now the novel coronavirus to world health officials on New Year’s Eve, according to a new report published Saturday.

Most of the travelers flew into airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Newark and Detroit in January. Thousands came directly from the city of Wuhan in the Chinese Hubei province, where the coronavirus originated, the New York Times reported.

The report did not account for travelers who did not fly directly from China and may have come into the U.S. on a connecting flight from the country.

The number of passengers flying directly into the U.S. from China was significantly reduced after President Trump issued a travel ban on Jan. 31 – the day after the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency.

Foreign nationals were barred from entering the U.S. if they had visited China within the past two weeks.

Even after the order went into effect on February 2, some 40,000 people – traveling on 279 flights – have arrived in the U.S. from China, according to the analysis from the New York Times based on data collected in both countries.

Those individuals were exempt from the restrictions because they were either American citizens, U.S. passport or green cardholders. Non-citizen relatives were also permitted to enter the U.S., an exemption made by the president to prevent the separation of families.

Some of those flights arrived within the past week from Beijing into major U.S. airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.

 

Law and order fears for NYC as nearly 10,000 NYPD and FDNY members call out sick

Daily Mail – There are fears of a breakdown in law and order in New York as the city’s key agencies feel the brunt of the coronavirus.

The NYPD has reported that up to a sixth of its force, or around 6,500 members called out sick towards the end of last week and the numbers are not expected to improve over the coming days.

Things are even worse at the FDNY with the number of those having to stay at home because of the disease even higher.

One in four members of its EMT paramedic team, about 4,000 people, are currently having to stay off work. 

 

As Trump administration debated travel restrictions, thousands streamed in from China

Daily Mail – In defending his strategy against the deadly coronavirus, President Donald Trump repeatedly has said he slowed its spread into the United States by acting decisively to bar travelers from China on Jan. 31.

“I was criticized by the Democrats when I closed the Country down to China many weeks ahead of what almost everyone recommended. Saved many lives,” he tweeted, for instance, on March 2.

But Reuters has found that the administration took a month from the time it learned of the outbreak in late December to impose the initial travel restrictions amid furious infighting.

During that time, the National Security Council staff, the state department and other federal agencies argued about everything from how best to screen for sick travelers to the economic impact of any restrictions, according to two government officials familiar with the deliberations.

The NSC staff ultimately proposed aggressive travel restrictions to high-level administration officials – but it took at least a week more for the president to adopt them, one of the government officials said.

Each day that the administration debated the travel measures, roughly 14,000 travelers arrived in the United States from China, according to figures cited by the Trump administration. Among them was a traveler who came from Wuhan to Seattle in mid-January, who turned out to be the first confirmed case in the United States.

On Jan. 22, Trump downplayed the threat posed by the virus, telling CNBC from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, “We have it totally under control.”

The battle within the White House over whether and how to stop infected travelers from China lasted nine more days.

On Jan. 31, Trump issued a proclamation barring entry of non-U.S. citizens, other than the immediate family of citizens and permanent residents, who had traveled to China within the last two weeks. The restrictions have since been expanded to many other countries.

It is unclear when the president was made aware of the NSC’s proposal and what prompted his decision to act, but the decision followed the World Health Organization’s declaration the day before that the epidemic was a “public health emergency of international concern.”

 

Louisiana church holds services, defying stay-at-home order

Reuters – The pastor of the Life Tabernacle Church near Baton Rouge held services on Sunday in defiance of a stay-at-home order issued by Louisiana because of the coronavirus pandemic, telling worshippers they had “nothing to fear but fear itself.”

 

Surgeon general: ‘This is going to be hardest and saddest week of most Americans’ lives’

The Hill – U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned Sunday amid the coronavirus pandemic that the week ahead would be the “hardest and the saddest” of “most Americans’ lives.”

“This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives,” Adams said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it’s not going to be localized; it’s going to be happening all over the country,” Adams said.

He added, however, that there “is a light at the end of the tunnel if everyone does their part for the next 30 days.” 

“There is hope, but we’ve also got to all do our part,” he said.

Host Chris Wallace also pressed Adams on President Trump’s repeated promotion of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment. The drug has not been approved for that use, and experts have warned a run on supplies could lead to a shortage for those who need it for its FDA-approved uses.

“Here’s what we’ve advised the president: When people are in a tragic situation, we want them to be able to have a conversation with their health care provider about everything they can do to save their lives,” Adams responded. “We feel a little bit better regarding its safety than we do about a completely novel drug.”

Wallace also asked the surgeon general about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendation that Americans wear fabric or cloth masks even as the president has said he likely will not wear one, to which Adams noted that the masks are “not a substitute for social distancing” and added that “the White House doctors and CDC are taking pains to make sure everyone is social distancing in regard to the president.”

 

Biden says Dem convention may need to be virtual

The Hill -Joe Biden  said Sunday that the Democratic National Convention may need to be held virtually.

The former vice president and 2020 Democratic frontrunner told ABC’s “This Week” that his party’s convention is “necessary,” but added it may not be possible to bring thousands of people to one location safely amid the pandemic.

“Well, we’re gonna have to do a convention,” Biden said. “We may have to do a virtual convention. I know I think we should be thinking about that right now.”

“What we do between now and then is gonna dictate a lot of that as well,” he added. 

 

Thousands of coronavirus-infected New Yorkers treated with anti-malarial drug

As many as 4,000 seriously ill coronavirus patients in New York are being treated with the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, state health officials say.

President Trump has touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential life-saver, although there is no widespread scientific evidence to date showing it helps battle COVID-19.

But Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month said health care providers in the state would be using the drug in combination with the antibiotic Zithromax, or azithromycin, for some last-ditch cases, based on potentially promising research.

“Time is of the essence,’’ Albany University Public Health Dean David Holtgrave, who is on the state’s research team, said in a statement

 

Dem lawmaker wants Trump prosecuted at international court for ‘crimes against humanity’

FOx – A Democratic state representative in Ohio said she “can’t take it anymore” and vowed to refer President Trump to the International Criminal Court for “crimes against humanity” over Trump’s promotion of a drug that has not been conclusively proven to fight the coronavirus.

State Rep. Tavia Galonski tweeted Sunday after President Trump spoke about hydroxychloroquine at his daily press briefing. The drug, normally used to treat malaria, is one of several that the president has pointed to as showing promise in the fight against COVID-19, but its effectiveness has been a subject of debate.

“I can’t take it anymore. I’ve been to The Hague. I’m making a referral for crimes against humanity tomorrow,” Galonski said. “Today’s press conference was the last straw. I know the need for a prosecution referral when I see one.”

 

As coronavirus cases surge, 3 in 4 US hospitals already treating patients

Fox – Three out of four U.S. hospitals surveyed are already treating patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, according to a federal report that finds hospitals expect to be overwhelmed as cases rocket toward their projected peak.

A report Monday from a federal watchdog agency warns that different, widely reported problems are feeding off each other in a vicious cycle. Such problems include insufficient tests, slow results, scarcity of protective gear, the shortage of breathing machines for seriously ill patients and burned-out staffs anxious for their own safety.

 

Science & Technology

 

New York City hospital starts remote coronavirus monitoring

FOx – In the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Mount Sinai Health System announced a new remote monitoring platform to help provide care and monitor COVID-19 patients who are recuperating at home.

Known as the Precision Recovery Platform, the database was originally used for stroke victims but has been adapted for COVID-19 patients whose symptoms are not severe enough to be hospitalized. Launched early last week, hundreds of patients have already enrolled in the platform.

In a statement obtained by Fox News, Dr. Christopher Kellner, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and co-developer of the platform, said the technology will play a “massive role” in the crisis.

 

5G-coronavirus fears spur rash of telecom tower arson fires

Fortune – Telecom masts that enable the next generation of wireless communication were set on fire in the U.K. in recent days, apparently by people motivated by a theory that the tech helps spread the coronavirus. Investors are taking note.

“Most will laugh at this scientifically unproven claim, but we should not underestimate public worry about potentially adverse health impacts of 5G due to radiation, and thus a possible drag on the 5G progress in democratic countries,” analysts led by Edison Lee at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. said in a note on Sunday.

While there’s absolutely no evidence to support the idea that 5G technology contributes to Covid-19’s spread, the conspiracy is being shared widely on social media. Mast fires were reported in Belfast, Liverpool and Birmingham, according to local media. A video of a telecom tower on fire was circulated on a Birmingham community webpage, and Facebook removed a group which encouraged users to share footage of equipment being destroyed, the Guardian reported Friday.

 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TRANSLATES THOUGHTS INTO TEXT USING BRAIN IMPLANT

Independent – Scientists have developed an artificial intelligence system that can translate a person’s thoughts into text by analysing their brain activity.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, developed the AI to decipher up to 250 words in real time from a set of between 30 and 50 sentences.

The algorithm was trained using the neural signals of four women with electrodes implanted in their brains, which were already in place to monitor epileptic seizures.

The volunteers repeatedly read sentences aloud while the researchers fed the brain data to the AI to unpick patterns that could be associated with individual words. The average word error rate across a repeated set was as low as 3 per cent.

“A decade after speech was first decoded from human brain signals, accuracy and speed remain far below that of natural speech,” states a paper detailing the research, published this week in the journal Nature Neuroscience. 

 

Health

 

Bombshell plea from NYC ICU doctor: COVID-19 is a condition of oxygen deprivation, not pneumonia… VENTILATORS may be causing the lung damage, not the virus

NaturalNews – A NYC physician named Cameron Kyle-Sidell has posted two videos on YouTube, pleading for health practitioners to recognize that COVID-19 is not a pneumonia-like disease at all. It’s an oxygen deprivation condition, and the use of ventilators may be doing more harm than good with some patients. The ventilators themselves, due to the high-pressure methods they are running, may be damaging the lungs and leading to widespread harm of patients.

Dr. Cameron Kyle-Sidell describes himself as an “ER and critical care doctor” for NYC. “In these nine days I have seen things I have never seen before,” he says. Before publishing his video, we confirmed that Dr. Kyle-Sidell is an emergency medicine physician in Brooklyn and is affiliated with the Maimonides Medical Center located in Brooklyn.

In his video (see below), he goes on to warn the world that the entire approach to treating COVID-19 may be incorrect, and that the disease is something completely different from what the dogmatic medical establishment is claiming.

“In treating these patients, I have witnessed medical phenomena that just don’t make sense in the context of treating a disease that is supposed to be a viral pneumonia,” he explains.

He talks about how he opened a critical care using expecting to be treating patients with a viral pneumonia infection that would progress into Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). But that the disease acted nothing like ARDS. “This is the paradigm that every hospital in the country is working under,” he warns. “And yet, everything I’ve seen in the last nine days, all the things that just don’t make sense, the patients I’m seeing in front of me, the lungs I’m trying to improve, have led me to believe that COVID-19 is not this disease, and that we are operating under a medical paradigm that is untrue.”

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9GYTc53r2o 

 

Restorative sleep promotes immune health and helps protect you from coronavirus and other diseases

Dr. Leonard Coldwell – Keeping your immune system strong and healthy is important since it protects you from germs that can make you sick. There are many ways to boost your immunity, such as eating nutritious foods, taking vitamin supplements and exercising regularly. Getting enough sleep each night is also key to supporting immune health and overall well-being.

How can sleep help fight coronavirus?

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is still spreading across the globe, and citizens are left scrambling as they prepare for the worst.

COVID-19 symptoms include:

• Difficulty breathing
• Headaches
• Coughing
• A runny nose
• Sore throat
• A fever

Getting at least eight hours of sleep each night is one of the most effective ways to improve your immunity and fight off viruses and illness since sleep is a natural immune booster.

To understand how sleep can promote immune health, you first need to know how the immune system works.

The immune system is your body’s natural defense system against germs cause diseases. It has three main functions:

1. To identify pathogens, or disease-causing microorganisms, and eliminate them from the body. Bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses are considered pathogens.
2. Find and neutralize harmful substances that come from outside the body.
3. Address major changes within the body, like the growth of cancer cells.

The immune system is activated when it recognizes antigens, or toxins and other foreign substances, in the body. This triggers a response and your immune system develops antibodies, which are cells specifically developed to fight invaders.

How sleep helps the immune system

Restorative sleep ensures that your immune system functions properly so it can protect you from diseases.

Think of your immune system as a football coach, with sleep as its halftime break. A good coach makes adjustments at halftime, after studying what their opponents are doing effectively.

Sleep helps your immune system recover so it can effectively assess any threats. The immune system then targets antigens and directs cells for a counterattack.

However, if you’re constantly sleep-deprived, your body will have a hard time fighting against disease-causing pathogens. (Related: 6 Natural ways to strengthen the immune system amid the coronavirus outbreak.)

 

Pet News

 

Bronx Zoo tiger becomes first of its kind to test positive for coronavirus, officials say

USA Today – Federal officials confirmed a tiger at the Bronx Zoo tested positive for COVID-19, the first known instance of a tiger being infected with the virus. 

Nadia, a four-year-old Malayan tiger, was tested after her sister Azul, two Amur tigers and three African lions developed a dry cough. The animals are all expected to recover.

“We tested the cat out of an abundance of caution and will ensure any knowledge we gain about COVID-19 will contribute to the world’s continuing understanding of this novel coronavirus,” said the Wildlife Conservation Society, which manages the Bronx Zoo.

The United States Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed the tests on Sunday and is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention along with state animal and public health leaders to determine whether animals, at the zoo or in other areas, should be tested for COVID-19. 

 

Coronavirus and pets: How COVID-19 affects cats and dogs

CNET – The coronavirus originated in animals but is it a danger to pets? Here’s everything we know about COVID-19 and companion animals.

Coronaviruses have lived and thrived in animals for thousands of years, but only a handful have been known to cause illness in humans. The coronavirus at the center of the current pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, is incredibly successful at spreading from human to human. As of early April — just four months after it was first detected — the virus had infected over 1 million people and spread to over 180 countries. 

It turns out that SARS-CoV-2 can hijack animal cells, too. Scientists believe the disease originated in Chinese horseshoe bats before it jumped into an intermediary animal and, from there, found its way into humans. The virus is able to inject itself into cells by binding to a cell surface protein known as ACE2, which is present in many species of animal.

Some media reports have shown that the coronavirus can infect our companion animals — and more exotic species like tigers and lions — but cases are rare. It appears that transmission of the disease from human to animal is low, and there’s no reason to think you might catch the disease from a feline friend who has been wandering the neighborhood. The World Health Organization states there is “no evidence that a dog, cat or any pet can transmit COVID-19.”

Still, pet owners are understandably worried about the health of their fur babies and how COVID-19 might affect them. We’ve gathered everything you need to know about coronavirus and your pets here, along with emerging research in how animals may spread or be affected by the coronavirus. If you have additional questions, you can reach out via email or give me a nudge on Twitter.