After sampling 500 snow geese in southern Quebec, biologists say even more conclusively that there is no sign of COVID-19 in the birds. (File image)
Laval researchers confirm there’s no COVID-19 in snow geese
500 snow geese in southern Quebec were recently sampled
Snow geese do not carry the virus responsible for COVID-19, and hunting and eating these birds is safe, Laval University researchers say after their latest round of spring bird sampling.
While some coronaviruses can be carried by birds and mammals, that is not the case with COVID-19 in snow geese, their results show.
About 500 snow geese near Montmagny, 80 kilometres east of Quebec City, were sampled this spring for COVID-19 before the birds headed north at the end of May.
Researchers captured the snow geese, swabbed them to see if there was any of the virus responsible for COVID-19 in their oral secretions and also sampled their feces.
Analyses carried out at Laval University hospital’s Laboratory of Infectious and Immune Diseases revealed no trace of the virus in any of the 500 birds tested, a June 10 news release from Laval said.
All members of the field team were also tested for COVID-19 before, during and after sampling.
And they took all necessary measures to prevent any contamination of the birds, which were released after samples were taken, Laval said.
Meanwhile, the population of these geese in North America is booming: there are about 15 million snow geese.
Other migratory birds are also not carriers of COVID-19, as far as biologists can determine.
The current hypothesis is that COVID-19 was transmitted from bats to humans, so it’s present in other mammals, but it’s not present in birds.
Birds can become infected with influenza and get sick, but these avian flu viruses do not normally infect humans.
Although there is no COVID-19 in birds, the advice from Environment and Climate Change Canada is that hunters should follow guidelines from the health authorities as they relate to travel and access to the land, physical distancing, and sanitary measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 among humans.
The next step will be to look at what viruses are carried by snow geese, including other coronaviruses.
“The current pandemic has shown us the importance of understanding animals as potential viral reservoirs, and a better understanding of these viruses will better prepare us for future epidemics,” Catherine Girard of Laval’s Viral Discovery and Ecology Laboratory, who was a co-investigator in the research, said in the release.
Seems to me like catching and testing 500 birds that you can’t confirm would have ever come into contact with the disease anyway is a lot more work and a lot less conclusive than catching like 5, intentionally exposing them to the disease, and then testing them. No?