I’m a little concerned about positive tests in other species.
Pets and even big cats in the Bronx Zoo.
What if it jumps to cows, pigs, chickens, etc… Food supply at risk.
Any connection to the huge swine sickness that preceded the Covid 19 breakout? Any similarity of these two viruses?
How unusual is it for a virus that infects humans to so quickly move to other species?
Title edited to better indicate subject.
This article Tiger at Bronx Zoo tests positive for coronavirus says
Restrict contact with your pets?? If you live by yourself?? Are the cats and dogs supposed to open the cans themselves? If they could, they’d be doing it already. 
From the cdc:
I don’t think any of the non-human animals reported as being infected are significantly ill.
They do also say to avoid contact if you’re ill; but that sounds as if it isn’t based on any evidence that there’s a problem, only based on the principle that they don’t know everything yet. And I also don’t see how I could, in practice, avoid contact with the cats.
They shots some cats up with like 10000X the virus needed to infect a human, and several of the cats got it.
IRL, there is no worry or concern.
They did not have to inject massive loads of virus into the several animals that are now testing positive and showing symptoms of Covid 19.
Even if it does not affect other species as badly as it does many humans. Animals could become a reservoir of the virus that can keep coming back on us.
Has anyone any information regarding the second part of my question? The swine flu epidemic that also originated in China. Is it maybe an early variant of Covid 19? Or is that a completely different type/strain? It does seem possible. Pigs are a good crossover point from some other species to humans.
Swine flu’s not even a coronavirus, is it?
Influenza is caused by an influenza virus. There is concern about influenza viruses in specifically transferring back and forth between species because of their particular ability for transfection-mediated recombination, particularly in Influenza Type A virus strains.
Viruses can and frequently do traverse between species because there is enough genetic commonality between all animals and particularly mammals that a virus that is able to replicate in humans can also replicate in those animals. But it is rare that viruses actually become virulent in a new species or is cross-infectious. When it does, then it can become epidemic and eventually endemic, but generally virus transfers are benign and unseen.
Stranger
I know. The term is old. I can’t recall what that latest mass infection of pigs was called. What the details are. But it was happening on a mass scale shortly before the Covid 19 outbreak in humans. I believe they actually overlapped. The last figure I recall was 25% or more of the China pig herds was dead and it was spreading fast.
I am not talking about the past swine flu that was infecting humans. Farmers all over the world were scared.
Even if it got into cows, pigs and chickens at large numbers, would that put the food supply at risk? The virus should be long dead after the animals have been slaughtered and cooked.
But maybe their moms and dads are long dead before they are conceived. You need to breed.
Quarantining and controlling infection in food animals is actually easier than doing it in humans who insist on things like freedom and rights and travel about a great deal.
Not really. They’re about as related as, say, humans and hippopotamuses. Or maybe humans and lizards.
They can cause some superficially similar symptoms, but so can a lot of other viruses.
Not very. My understanding (which is not expert level) is that while there are quite a few viruses that can infect just about all mammals, and some that can infect broader categories like mammals and avians, but MOST viruses tend to be limited to just one species or closely related species.
More likely (again, based on my non-expert understanding) is that a virus in animals can jump to people where people interact a lot with animals.
It’s now highly recommended that you maintain social distancing of at least 2m from tigers, and don’t invite them in for tea.
Word.
It’s my understanding that some viruses and bacteria can live* on* (which includes, in the mouths of) animals but not *infect *them. Sometimes because of moisture, skin oils, and body heat, they live longer on animals than they do on non-organic surfaces, but they do not infect the animals. So there is not virus replicating, and the animal is not shedding virus by coughing and sneezing, but you can pick up the virus by petting animals or letting them lick your face directly, or your hands, then touching your face.
So, don’t give the animals casual, one-off pats, and after training, or a serious snuggling session, wash your hands and face. If you live with other people, especially a vulnerable person, change your shirt, too.
If a known positive person lives in a house with negative people, and there is an animal, the positive person needs to isolate to one room (or two adjoining rooms), and if possible, use one bathroom while everyone else uses another, and not go into the kitchen-- someone else needs to prepare their food and leave it outside their door.
Then, you need to make a decision about pets. Isolate then with the positive person, or from them. It will depend on who in the house they are most closely bonded with.
Which is why you should give them the bagged stuff.
If my cats were carrying it, they’d almost certainly have gotten it from me.
I can see this being more of a potential issue if there were multiple people in the household. Or if I not only catch it but also wind up in the hospital, at which point somebody else would have to come in to feed them.
– Darren, that’s why the dry cat food’s in a metal can. Years ago I had a cat who would rip the whole bag open. Contents stale long before finished, not to mention all over the floor.
I could see it being in issue with cats in the UK, where, due to the lack of predators, allowing them to roam outside is almost universal (regardless of any damage done to local wildlife). It’s quite normal for cats to be hanging around multiple homes here, often getting fed by several families.
Also an issue for petting-zoo type places, depending on what species can catch it and quite how readily it transfers.