Virginia Tech researcher discusses COVID in wildlife

ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — Virginia Tech (VT) researchers found the virus that causes COVID-19 in Virginia wildlife. Opossums, deer mice, and another handful of species tested positive for Sars CoV-2.

Carla Finkelstein is a professor at Virginia Tech and director of the molecular diagnostics lab at Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. She says the question they were trying to answer with their recent study was how these animals got infected in the first place.

They found that the more humans there are in an area, the more animals they’re finding with Sars. Finkelstein says it’s likely animals are infected through wastewater, trash, and discarded food left by humans.

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“We need to be really mindful of the way we interact with wildlife and that’s what we want to bring to everyone’s attention,” she said. “I think the way that we approach all these problems is multidimensional in the sense that we need to continue surveillance of the virus in wildlife to see where it’s going; we need to educate people on how to interact with wildlife; I think we need to educate ourselves on how we dispose of our trash and everything to prevent wildlife from being infected.”

Finkelstein emphasized that there’s no evidence the virus can spread from our backyard critters to people, but she says that’s why they need to keep an eye on the issue. If the virus were to mutate to a point where it can spread, then we can be ready to tackle any new strain.

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