Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Friday 6 March 2020

A dog is seen at a pet shop in Hong Kong, Thursday, March 5,
2020.
Associated Press
Dogs, cats can't pass

on coronavirus, but

can test positive Customers look at sanitizing wipes on the shelves of a pharmacy in New York on Wednesday,
March 4, 2020.
Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — Pet and the World Organisa-
cats and dogs cannot pass tion for Animal Health (OIE) Science Says: How risky is that
the new coronavirus on to have unanimously agreed
humans, but they can test that the dog has a low-lev- virus? Your mind may mislead
positive for low levels of the el of infection and it is "likely
pathogen if they catch it to be a case of human-to-
from their owners. animal transmission."
That's the conclusion of The dog, and another also By MALCOLM RITTER who lives far from one. In he said.
Hong Kong's Agriculture, in quarantine which has Science Writer any case, say experts in As Ropeik put it, in the face
Fisheries and Conservation tested negative for the vi- NEW YORK (AP) — Anna Al- how people gauge risk, it's of a new and poorly under-
Department after a dog in rus, will be tested again exander, a property man- not a simple, cold statisti- stood threat "we start feel-
quarantine tested weakly before being released. The ager in Virginia Beach, cal calculation. Instead, it ing like we don't know what
positive for the virus Feb. 27, department suggested Virginia, started the day is colored by our emotions we need to do to protect
Feb. 28 and March 2, using any pets, including dogs Monday thinking that she and other psychological ourselves, and that feels
the canine's nasal and oral and cats, from households might avoid shaking hands factors. like powerlessness, a lack
cavity samples. where someone has tested because of the coronavirus "Emotions are the filters of control, like driving down
A unidentified spokesman positive for the virus should outbreak. Then somebody through which we see the the road but with your eyes
for the department was be put into quarantine. stuck out a hand to shake. facts," says David Ropeik, closed." Meanwhile, the in-
quoted in a news release In general, pet owners She took it. a retired Harvard instructor formation people get from
as saying. "There is currently should maintain good hy- "I'm a business person," Al- on risk communication. the news and social media
no evidence that pet ani- giene, including washing exander, 65, explained. And this virus outbreak is "not particularly reassur-
mals can be a source of in- hands before and after "But if somebody else does presents a list of "hot but- ing," Slovic said. "The geo-
fection of COVID-19 or that handling animals, their it next time, I might try to tons ... that ramp up our graphic risk of this seems
they become sick." food and supplies and no be careful because of the perception of risk" and to be rapidly expanding"
Scientists suspect the virus kissing them. People who coronavirus." sometimes make those and within any country
known as SARS-CoV-2 that are sick should avoid con- As the viral infections perceptions differ from the the case numbers start
causes the disease origi- tact with pets and a vet- spread across the globe, evidence-based conclu- relatively small and then
nated in bats before pass- erinarian's advice should everybody has to make sions of medical officials, grow, without any known
ing it on to another species, be sought if changes in a decision: How worried says Paul Slovic, a psychol- upper bound, he said. And
possibly a small wild mam- a pet's health conditions should I be about getting ogy professor at the Univer- reports focus on people
mal, that passed it on to are detected. "Apart from infected, and what should sity of Oregon. getting sick and dying, not
humans. However, experts maintaining good hygiene I do about it? For example, it's new and those who've become in-
from the School of Public practices, pet owners Those decisions can have unfamiliar, unlike the usual fected and had only mild
Health of The University of need not be overly con- wide impacts. "Seriously seasonal flu that kills a lot symptoms, he said. "We're
Hong Kong, the College of cerned and under no cir- people — STOP BUYING more people every year getting only the scary infor-
Veterinary Medicine and cumstances should they MASKS!" tweeted U.S. Sur- than coronavirus has. It mation."
Life Sciences of the City abandon their pets," the geon General Dr. Jerome doesn't appear to be fully What's more, Ropeik said,
M. Adams on Feb. 29. He understood. And it seems "everybody is telling every-
University of Hong Kong spokesman said.q
explained masks aren't hard to control, either by body about it" in news and
effective in protecting public health authorities or social media, which ampli-
the general public "but if our own actions. fies the perceived risk.
healthcare providers can't "We see there is no vaccine Ropeik said the coronavi-
get them to care for sick that can prevent it," he rus triggers thinking about
patients, it puts them and said. It can spread through years of warnings about le-
our communities at risk!" airborne droplets released thal pandemics. "This idea
The right degree of con- by infected people, but we of the new disease being
cern for somebody who can't be sure the people a major killer is an idea that
lives near a coronavirus we meet are truly healthy, has been burned into our
hotspot might very well dif- which also undercuts any recent fear memory," he
fer from that of somebody sense of personal control, said. q