Omicron Has Been Found in White-Tailed Deer. Why That Should Worry Us
There are more than 30 million white-tailed deer in the U.S. That’s a boon for hunters, a headache for gardeners, a hazard for drivers—and now, it appears, a possible problem in the world’s ongoing effort to control the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a new study led by researchers at Penn State University, white-tailed deer captured and tested on Staten Island in New York have been infected with the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2—the first such discovery in non-human animals.
COVID-19 is not unknown in deer. In 2020 and 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture detected earlier versions of the virus in 481 deer sampled in 15 states. But the Omicron variant is causing greater worry than those earlier strains, simply because of its extreme transmissibility and the close quarters in which humans and deer often live.
The study was admittedly small. Researchers took nasal swabs from 68 deer, and they found Omicron in five of them. The question the discovery raises is, how transmissible is the virus from human to deer and back again? For now, at least, the researchers can’t say. The study merely showed that the animals were harboring the virus, but revealed nothing about how they acquired it, whether they shed it—or even if they are capable of passing it among themselves.
“As we continue to find these spillovers in animals, such as deer, the complexity of the virus evolution and the transmission networks becomes much more complicated,” said Suresh Kuchipudi, a veterinary virologist and a co-author of the study.
Troublingly, at least one of the deer in the sample was shown not just to be harboring the virus but to have a high level of antibodies against it. That suggested a sort of wildlife equivalent of a breakthrough infection—an animal that had had the virus once before, developed a natural immune response to it, but then became reinfected.
The biggest worry for now, the Penn State authors argue, is not so much whether deer will be one more meaningful vector in the spread of Omicron to humans. We’re doing a perfectly fine job of spreading it among ourselves already. Rather, the deer could become a petri dish for viral mutation and the emergence of still more variants, which could, theoretically, then jump species and infect humans.
“If unmonitored, the continued circulation of this virus in any animal species could result in evolution and emergence of completely novel variants that may potentially undermine the protection provided by the current vaccines,” says Kuchipudi. “So that is sort of the bigger concern.”
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
More than 397 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 12 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 5.7 million people have died. On Feb. 7, there were more than 2.1 million new cases and 9,246 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending, in terms of cases:
And in terms of deaths:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 5 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded nearly 77 million coronavirus cases as of 12 a.m. E.T. today. More than 905,000 people have died. On Feb. 7, there were 340,947 new cases and 2,904 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending in terms of cases:
And in terms of deaths:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Feb. 8, 12 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Yet another Chinese city has been placed under lockdown after a local outbreak of COVID-19, reports the Associated Press. This time it’s the southern city of Baise, which has about 3.4 million residents in the city itself and the surrounding rural region abutting the border with Vietnam. After 135 cases of the coronavirus—two of them Omicron—were detected, residents have been ordered to remain in their homes, transportation links have been suspended, traffic lights have been switched to red only, and restaurants are only allowed to serve takeout. There is no word from authorities on when the restrictions will be lifted.
Nurses’ salaries have risen in many parts of the country as hospitals use COVID-19 federal relief funds to recruit and retain nursing staff during the pandemic, reports the Wall Street Journal. The bump in compensation is a simple case of supply and demand, especially among nurses who are free to travel or relocate from states with sufficient nursing resources to those in need. The current surges in COVID-19 have exacerbated a nursing shortage that existed even in the earliest days of the pandemic: The National Institutes of Health reported early in 2020 that nationwide, there were roughly 1 million fewer working nurses than the health system needed.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now placed more than half of the world’s most popular tourist and business destinations on its do-not-travel list, reports the Washington Post. Yesterday, the CDC added seven countries—the Democratic Republic of Congo, Oman, Libya, Japan, Israel, Cuba, and Armenia—to the list, bringing the total no-go-zones to 134. The size of the list has grown especially rapidly since the World Health Organization declared Omicron a variant of concern on Nov. 26.
Pfizer expects to report record-high revenue in 2022, driven in part by $54 billion in sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and its antiviral COVID-19 pill Paxlovid, reports CNBC. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted the pill emergency use authorization in December, benefiting both patients and the company. Pfizer may be in a position to do even more good for public health as well as its bottom line, with a new clinical trial of an Omicron-specific vaccine for adults 18 to 55. The trial began late last month and, pending authorization, a vaccine could be ready as early as March.
Streets outside of New Zealand’s parliament were blocked today by hundreds of people protesting COVID-19 restrictions, reports the Guardian. The protests are believed to have been inspired by similar protests in Canada , where activists have blocked the Ambassador Bridge, which links Canada and Detroit. In New Zealand, the so-called “convoy for freedom” has taken the form of a mass gathering of trucks and vans parked outside of Parliament ahead of the first speech of the year by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. The protesters—few of whom were wearing masks—pledge to camp outside of the parliament complex until COVID-19 restrictions are all lifted.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Jeffrey Kluger and edited by Angela Haupt.
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