Deer Get Tested For COVID-19 On Cape Cod And Islands

BARNSTABLE, MA — State wild life researchers were on Cape Cod and the Islands this past week helping federal officials better understand how the coronavirus affects white-tail deer.

Though deer have been found to carry COVID-19, wild life experts say it's unlikely the animals can transmit the virus to humans. Still, there is a lot that federal officials do not know about the virus, which is why the U.S. Department of Agriculture is studying COVID-19 in deer populations across the country.

Massachusetts deer and moose specialist Martin Feehan is one researcher helping federal officials with their study. He told local NPR affiliate CAI he tested about 50 deer on Nantucket for COVID-19 this week, before sampling more on Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. Feehan said he won't know more until federal officials compile their data, but preliminary research shows COVID-19 isn't having wide scale negative effects on deer.

"If you think about deer, they're really athletic and anaerobic animals and usually quite young," Feehan told the radio station. "When you have athletic, anaerobic humans, they tend to have light infection or be asymptomatic altogether, and so that's likely the case with deer."

Still, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials say humans can spread the disease to wildlife, so there's a lot still to learn.

"The virus may threaten the health and welfare of wildlife and could negatively impact conservation efforts," the CDC's website says.