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Showing posts from March, 2020

Receiving shipments of chicks during the COVID-19 pandemic

We hope this message finds you doing well, staying healthy, and looking forward to the growing season. It will be hear soon, in spite of all that is going on in the world around us. Many of you grow and sell broilers and/or eggs, and right now are receiving boxes of chicks, goslings, or ducklings in the mail at the post office. A note of caution regarding shipping packages is worth considering. According to the Center for Disease Control, a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes. While it is important to remember that this is probably not the main way the virus spreads, nonetheless it is possible to transmit it via this method. A recent study conducted by the National Institute of Health, demonstrated that the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is stable for several hours to days in aerosols (up to 3 hours) and on surfaces (cardboard up to 24 hours, plastic a

Important update on COVID-19 as it applies to poultry

by Carol J. Cardona,DVM, PhD, DACPV Ben Pomeroy Chair in Avian Health College of Veterinary Medicine | University of Minnesota We are all watching the COVID-19 pandemic as it unfolds. Each day, it seems this virus leaves us with more questions than answers. Although we can’t solve most of these issues, there are a few things we know and they can be addressed. Does the coronavirus infect poultry or birds? COVID-19 is an important human disease caused by a virus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV2). The virus may have originally come from mammals, and genomic sequencing of the virus confirms natural evolution of the virus ( Scripps Research Institute ). Now, it is a human adapted virus causing a disease that spreads from human to human. Although the virus originally came from non-human mammals, the COVID-19 outbreak no longer involves them. There are many types of coronaviruses and most vertebrates are hosts to one or more strains. Corona