It is not yet mosquito season, but as we hit the middle part of May, the days of swatting those pesky insects might not be far off.

And as Manitoba continues to battle a global pandemic, the question is being asked, can mosquitoes transmit COVID-19?

Dr. Jason Kindrachuk is Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Emerging Viruses at the University of Manitoba. He says for everybody’s peace of mind, COVID-19 is not transmitted by insects. This is different from other emerging viruses, such as Zika, Chikungunya and Dengue, which can be carried and transferred by mosquitoes.

Dr. Kindrachuk says the likelihood of somebody being infected with COVID-19 through an insect is extremely minimal.

“It would basically come down to a mosquito or an insect taking basically a blood meal from somebody that was positive, pulling up enough virus out of that bite and then immediately going to somebody else, biting them and basically infecting them with that virus,” he explains.

Dr. Kindrachuk says one of the characteristics of COVID-19, is that it does not often find its way into the bloodstream. Rather, it predominantly stays within the lungs. While it transfers to some other organs, Dr. Kindrachuk says it does not tend to show up in large amounts in the blood, as the Ebola virus does.

“The ability again for somebody to be infected by a mosquito or a black fly is so minimal,” he says. “It is one of those things that is really just not a concern.”

Further to that, he says though ticks can carry infectious diseases such as Lyme Disease or Powassan Virus, getting infected with COVID-19 through ticks, should also not concern us.

“I still caution within those types of insects, we want to be cautious of not getting bites,” he says. “But in the realm of COVID-19, it is not within our purview of being concerned right now.”

So, what about pets? Dr. Kindrachuk references what happened at the Bronx Zoo with tigers there becoming infected with COVID-19. There have also been reports of house cats around the world picking up the virus.

According to Dr. Kindrachuk, there are documented cases of house pets being infected by their owner.

“There has been some evidence to show that humans that were infected can transmit the virus to cats, as well, potentially to dogs,” he explains. “From all the data that we have, it goes from human to the animal, but not backwards.”

With dogs, he says it appears the virus does not stay very long in these animals, noting their immune system clears it up. And, in the case at the Bronx Zoo, Dr. Kindrachuk says it appears that infected big cats could transmit to other big cats, but not back to humans.

Having said that, Dr. Kindrachuk says recommendations from the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the United States Department of Agriculture and Health Canada, a person in isolation or quarantine should have minimal contact with house pets, just out of an abundance of caution. He notes, particularly because there is evidence that animals can get infected by their owner. Dr. Kindrachuk also suggests preventing our pets from interacting with other animals or humans during this time of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kindrachuk says right now, the big question is in regards to a potential second wave. He says experts are not sure where we stand right now to the threat of a second wave but suggests we have some ability to limit what that second wave will look like. And, though social distancing measures are being reduced across Canada, he says we have a personal responsibility to uphold our social distancing measures.

“Try to minimize again the contact that we have with others because the virus is still in the community, it still has the potential to be able to transmit widely and we can really kind of set the tone for what happens over the next few months,” he says.