The United States Department of Agriculture recently released the results of a study conducted by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that shows certain white-tail deer populations have COVID-19 antibodies present. It was determined that 1/3 of the deer populations in Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York possessed the antibodies.
How does this happen? White-tail deer are the most abundant species in the United States, are susceptible to the virus, and frequently come in contact with humans, of which 114 million Americans have had COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Luckily, even with such high amounts of white-tail deer testing positive for COVID-19 antigens, none of them showed signs of any illness as a direct result of Coronavirus. For those concerned whether it is safe to consume wild game meat of deer that has tested positive, the USDA says there is no evidence that a person can get COVID-19 from eating “contaminated” meat.
They will not be issuing new guidelines regarding the matter, but rather suggest the previous methods of processing, cooking, storing, cleaning and disinfecting will suffice. The USDA has also said the chance of humans getting COVID from deer is extremely low.
