Lori Walsh: In the midst of a pandemic, humans are understandably concerned, and those same humans also are thoughtful about those living around them. Whether that's a two-legged or perhaps four, the question of course is how does the coronavirus affect our pets, our livestock and farm animals. Joining us with insights, South Dakota State Veterinarian, Dustin Oedekoven. Welcome back. Thanks for being here.
Dustin Oedekoven: Hi, Lori. Thanks for having me.
Lori Walsh: All right. So this is one of those things where people are going to continue to ask as we learn more about the virus, and that's always an important thing to tell people that there aren't a lot of clinical studies because this is a novel coronavirus. What do we know right now about how this virus, if at all, impacts pets and livestock?
Dustin Oedekoven: Well, we've got some good news on that front, Lori. This particular virus is not known to affect or to cause illness in pets or any other animals. We don't have any evidence at this time suggests that animals might play a role in the transmission to humans. So globally, right now what we're seeing with the COVID-19 virus is that it's human to human transmission. We also have additional good news in that the veterinary community, especially the diagnostic community has a lot of experience with coronaviruses in general. This is a broad family of viruses. And so we have experience with coronaviruses in cattle and horses and pigs and cats and dogs. We're not starting from scratch on this.
We do have some evidence that this particular virus has not been circulating in animals. So that's all good news. And then as you mentioned, we don't have any clinical studies, we don't know everything there is to know about this COVID-19 virus in animals. So it bears continuing to watch. Fortunately, we're not the first country dealing with it either. So there are veterinary communities across the globe that are looking at this issue and all working on it together.
Lori Walsh: Are there precautionary measures that are just wise to pay attention to right now?
Dustin Oedekoven: Well the most widely circulated precautionary measure is for those people who may be infected with a COVID-19, if you know you're infected, you've tested positive, there is a general precaution to stay away from your pets just like you would stay away from other family members. And that recommendation is really out of an abundance of caution. As I mentioned, we don't know everything there is to know about it. We don't have any evidence that it actively moves from people to animals and the reverse. But still the recommendation is if you are ill not to come into contact, close contact with your pet.
Lori Walsh: So one of the big challenges that remains then, is obviously like you said, the veterinary communities around the world are continuing to look into this and update those recommendations as needed. But it's the people that are in contact with the pets that are in contact with other people. And a lot of listeners are telling us their vet's office are closed, they're having a hard time getting their pets medication. So that is in your estimation, a decision that's really based on having too many people, too many humans come in close contact with each other trying to slow the spread of coronavirus are among people. That's why people are seeing those challenges.
Dustin Oedekoven: Right. Veterinarian businesses, especially in our rural communities, but really across the country, veterinary clinics are small businesses and they are being impacted in a similar manner as many other small businesses are with trying to maintain healthy employees, healthy people there. I mean, that's the number one priority right now, is looking out for the people. But also veterinary services have been designated as essential services. Especially thinking about the food, animal health aspects, trying to maintain a healthy population of livestock, that's an important consideration right now.
And so whether the small animal practices, mixed animal practices or food animal practices, the veterinarians are looking out for their employees trying to make sure that they're healthy. And they're adhering to the same guidance that everyone else in that is making sure that sick employees are not coming to work. And if people are ill, they need to stay home. And then practicing good hygiene, making I'm sure that they're frequently washing hands, frequently washing their public spaces and all of the guidance that we're all very familiar with at this point in trying to adhere to.
But we're finding that many vet clinics are maintaining operation, they're trying to stay open, they're trying to provide those services that are necessary. In some cases they have reduced or they're in some cases advising their clients to delay services that are not absolutely necessary right now. And again, that's just to, as you mentioned, trying to adhere to the decrease in interacting with one another so that we can decrease the probability that the virus spreads among people. But the other thing that veterinarians are taking advantage of or using is what we call telemedicine and whether that's done over the phone or over video chat or finding ways to diagnose and provide treatment where they can do that within a relationship.
If you have a relationship already established with your veterinarian, it's a little bit easier to call them and say, hey, we need some medication for this or that or we're seeing this problem. Can you help us with that? And veterinarians, in many cases are able to do that without an in person visit. And so I would just encourage people, whether they're small animal owners, livestock owners, you have a question, go ahead and call your veterinarian and, like I say, many of them are trying to work within the guidelines to make sure we're limiting the spread of the virus.
Lori Walsh: Let's talk about lambing season and calving season. We had a cattle rancher on the program yesterday who said, you can't pull a calf and be socially distant at the same time or physically distant. What are some of the challenges that people in the rural communities are having with keeping operations going? They can't stay home if they're sick. They have to go to each other's physical space and often home farms and ranches to do the work that needs to be done. What kind of guidelines are you suggesting for them?
Dustin Oedekoven: Right. You highlighted several of the challenges livestock production goes on. It's interesting now and maybe just a little funny. I've heard from some producers that have commented to me, they didn't realize how socially distant they were. Life hasn't changed much for many of them. They're still out feeding their livestock. And maybe things haven't changed a whole lot for them. But in the event that they do need service providers like veterinarians to come and assist, that can still be done. It can still be done safely. And again, just adhering to those guidelines of not going anywhere. If you're sick, if you are ill, you need to isolate and then stay away from other folks. And that's where it gets to be challenge.
Say if you need assistance in getting chores done or providing for your animals, that can be a challenge. And that's where we all come together as South Dakotans and try to help each other out. Again trying the best we can to adhere to those guidelines. And the guidelines are just that. They're guidelines. Sometimes it's hard to follow them all. But at the end of the day, I think that's what's going to pull us all through, is being able to help each other out where we can and I would encourage people not to hesitate to ask for help from friends, neighbors, churches, associations. There are a number of people out there, a number of groups out there, they're offering assistance, and it may be just that. That somebody needs help getting chores done because they're not feeling well. The day to day tasks have to go on and we all have to pull together to get it done.
Lori Walsh: Are you learning things or hearing people, you mentioned people are saying, I didn't realize I was that socially isolated in the first place. Much has been made about what we're understanding about the way we live and our resilience and our vulnerabilities that we didn't have before. What are your thoughts? Are you hearing things that when we go forward when we're through this, whatever through this looks like that there are lessons that we'll take forward?
Dustin Oedekoven: Yeah, absolutely. And I'm sure everybody can insert their own experiences here. But definitely, I think we all will be more appreciative for the things that we take for granted on a day to day basis that we often do or make plans to do, and don't really think much about it. But yeah, there are a number of things that these social distancing recommendations have caused us to reconsider. Whether it be kids sports or school or work trips or things like that. I'm certainly finding that there's a lot I can do without leaving, without going anywhere through a phone call or a webinar. At home has sure caused us to realign our priorities and change the way that we spend time together as a family and I'm sure that's across the board. So, yeah, we'll all be more appreciative and probably better for it when we get through this.
Lori Walsh: Dustin Oedekoven, South Dakota State Veterinarian, thank you so much for joining us again, we appreciate your time.
Dustin Oedekoven: Thank you, Lori. Have a great day.