The Family Dog Seems To Increase Your Risk Of Covid-19

Follow the science, follow the science, that's the way to corner Coronavirus, the experts say.  Well, what might that mean for the family pooch?

According to Scitechdaily.com, your family dog can affect your chances of contracting COVID-19.

The Coronavirus is world wide and under the microscope world wide. Researchers from two universities in Spain found that living with a dog and buying basic products in the supermarket with home delivery were two of the socio-demographic variables that most increased a person’s risk of getting COVID-19.  "The most increased risk of contracting COVID-19, up by 78% in the case of living with a dog, and up by 94% in the case of supermarket home delivery."

Study authors say that dog-owners should take extreme hygiene measures in relation to their pet, as it’s not yet clear whether the owners were infected because the animal acted as a host for the virus, or because the owner had to take the dog out for a walk in public and was therefore exposed to the virus in that way. "By contrast, having cats or other types of pets had no significant effect on the prevalence of the disease....from a scientific point of view, there is no justification for children’s playgrounds being closed to prevent infections while parks where dogs are walked are allowed to remain open"

They also say that disinfecting items bought at the supermarket once home helped to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and was more effective than other hygiene measures such as wearing a facemask, gloves, disinfecting one’s shoes, or washing clothing when returning home from the store.