Like students, teachers and visitors of University of the Philippines Baguio, cats are also undergoing temperature check to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
In its Facebook posts, UP Baguio Animal Welfare Committee shared that security guards are also imposing the temperature check on cats within the vicinity. They are using thermal gun on resident cats.
They currently have at least 38 cats on campus.
“Temperature check [at] UPB was started since ECQ period in March. But it was only recently when we thought of trying it out with 3 of them,” UP Baguio Animal Welfare Committee told Interaksyon.
They just tried it out of curiosity if something will register on the thermometer when placed on the cats’ foreheads.
Photos showed that the UP Baguio cats are complying with the temperature check directive.
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that while the world is still learning about COVID-19, “it appears that it can spread from people to animals in some situations, especially after close contact with a person sick with COVID-19.”
In April, two cats from separate households in New York tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. They had a mild respiratory illness.
Oregon Veterinary Medical Association reported both cases were believed to contract the virus through contact with people who were infected.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, a cat in Minnesota that had a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit or 40 degrees Celsius tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The cat reportedly had “symptoms consistent with upper respiratory illness.”
The CDC cited recent research “that animals such as ferrets, cats and golden Syrian hamsters can be experimentally infected with the virus and can spread the infection to other animals of the same species in laboratory settings.”
However, it stressed that the findings were only based on a small number of animals “and do not show whether animals can spread the infection to people.”
Several establishments have been conducting temperature checks in their business in a bid to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
