How worried should we be about animal reservoirs of COVID-19?
Posted March 29, 2022 6:11 am.
Last Updated March 29, 2022 6:14 am.
In today’s Big Story podcast, Canadian white-tailed deer can get SARS-CoV-2. More importantly, they can transmit it back to humans. This may sound scary, but it’s unclear how often it might happen. What’s more important, however, are the questions this raises.
Will animals remain a reservoir for the virus, continuing its life in areas where human cases are close to zero? Can different species create new variants that could spread to humans? How could we monitor these animals for the virus anyway, even if we wanted to? And is the same kind of transmission possible in household pets like cats and dogs?
GUEST: Denise Balkissoon, Ontario Bureau Chief, The Narwhal
You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify.
You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.
