When it comes to getting sick with COVID-19, you might be thinking about this, and we have too. Laurie Wardian asks:
"Can my dog, Zorro, play with other dogs without being contaminated by a dog with an owner who isn't showing signs of COVID? So what are the risks?"
We asked the experts: Dr. Irfan N. Hafiz, an infectious disease physician and chief medical officer for Northwestern Medicine's northwest region; Katie Cary, Vice President of Infection Prevention for HCA Continental Division; and Dr. Jasmine Marcelin, an infectious disease specialist at Nebraska Medicine.
Their take — contracting COVID-19 from two dogs playing is low risk.
"Your biggest risk is the people with your dog, and who you were with at the dog park. It's not the poor dog. You know, just wash your hands, wash your dog. And maintain social distancing," Cary said.
"The likelihood of developing COVID-19 after dogs interact with each other is low unless their humans are also less than six feet apart," Dr. Marcelin said.
"The risk of animal transmission is not clear. There are some reports of cats and other felines being able to get coronavirus. But again, the role that that plays in transmitting from a feline to another human is not clear yet. There is no documented cases of dogs, even less so there. To my knowledge, there are no documented cases of transmission through a dog." Dr. Hafiz said.
If you have a question about your risk, send us a video to whatstherisk@newsy.com. You can see answers to other questions here.
