Cat Birthday Party Leads to 15 COVID-19 Infections

A coronavirus outbreak in Santo Domingo, Chile has reportedly been traced to a cat birthday party. Ten people who attended the party tested positive for COVID-19 and are suspected of infecting five other family members and friends, reports The Sun. The cat's owner is believed to be patient zero for the outbreak. The cat itself was not infected.

"When I heard it was a cat's birthday party I thought it was a joke," Francisco Alvarez, the Valparaiso Regional Secretary of the Ministry of Health (SEREMI), told local media earlier this month. "That they were probably trying to hide something, but indeed it was. We have corroborated it with at least six of the 15 [infected] people who told us the same thing." He later said the cat did not have the virus, but it was the cat's owner who organized the party and infected the guests.

The pet's birthday party's exact date was not reported, but officials linked the outbreak to the event. Alvarez thought it was "inconceivable" that an outbreak could happen in this way, as Chilean authorities have repeatedly told residents to avoid large gatherings or stay at home, just as authorities in the U.S. have.

Alvarez said he was at "death's door" last year himself when he contracted the virus. He said the birthday party outbreak was discovered during contact tracing, as were other shocking events, reports Newsweek. He discovered a 3-year-old child with a work permit and extramarital affairs. "An essential part of a democracy is that no one is exempt from complying with the law and that no one can behave as if they are above it," Alvarez tweeted in Spanish on Friday, Jan. 22. Chile has reported over 700,000 coronavirus cases and almost 18,000 deaths from coronavirus complications since the start of the pandemic, according to the New York Times' coronavirus database.

While the cat did not carry the virus in this case, there has been evidence of cats being infected by the virus. In April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary Services Laboratories announced two pet cats tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. The cats lived in two separate parts of New York state and their owners did not test positive. However, the CDC and USDA said there was "no evidence that pets play a role in spreading the virus" in the U.S. and there was "no justification in taking measures against companion animals that may compromise their welfare."