Communicating with Northerners on the absence of SARS-CoV-2 in migratory snow geese

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised many concerns among Indigenous communities about virus transmission risks from wild food, particularly migratory birds. Snow geese contribute significantly to food security in Indigenous contexts, which is precarious in many communities. The risk to goose hunters is very unlikely as coronaviruses found in birds are from different genera than that of SARS-CoV-2, the etiologic agent responsible for COVID-19. Nevertheless, little is currently known about the host tropism range of SARS-CoV-2. To address the concerns raised by Northern communities, we captured 500 snow geese in May 2020 at their stopover along the St Lawrence estuary. We took oropharyngeal and cloacal samples before releasing the birds. All samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2 within one week and were found to be PCR-negative, allowing us to communicate rapidly with Northern communities. The current pandemic has shown that the importance of understanding animals as potential viral reservoirs, and that a better understanding of these viruses will better prepare us for future spillover events. This project demonstrates that researchers can be quickly and efficiently mobilized to respond to concerns from Indigenous communities.

Résumé

La pandémie de COVID-19 a soulevé de nombreuses inquiétudes chez les communautés autochtones à propos du risque de transmission du virus à partir de l‘alimentation traditionnelle, en particulier les oiseaux migrateurs. L’oie des neiges contribue de façon importante à la sécurité alimentaire en contextes autochtones, qui est précaire dans plusieurs communautés. Le risque de transmission pour les chasseurs et consommateurs d’oies est très faible car les coronavirus trouvés chez les oiseaux et le coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, responsable de la COVID-19, appartiennent à des familles différentes. Toutefois, les connaissances du SARS-COV2 restent limitées, notamment quant à la diversité des hôtes potentiels. Pour répondre aux inquiétudes des communautés nordiques, nous avons capturés 500 oies sauvages durant leur halte migratoire le long de l’estuaire du Saint-Laurent en mai 2020. Des écouvillons oropharyngiaux et cloacaux ont été réalisés sur l’ensemble des oiseaux avant qu’ils ne soient bagués et relâchés. Tous les échantillons oropharyngiaux ont été traités en une semaine et ont montré l’absence de SARS-CoV-2, permettant de communiquer rapidement ces résultats aux communautés nordiques. Cette pandémie montre l’importance de mieux comprendre le rôle joué par les animaux comme réservoirs viraux afin de se préparer aux futures contagions. Ce projet est un exemple de la capacité du milieu de la recherche à répondre rapidement aux préoccupations des communautés autochtones.

KEYWORDS:

• Greater Snow Geese
• SARS-CoV-2
• Indigenous food security
• country food
• coronaviruses
• animal reservoirs

MOTS CLÉS:

• Oie des neiges
• SARS-CoV-2
• sécurité alimentaire autochtone
• nourriture traditionnelle
• coronavirus
• réservoirs animaux

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank C. Geoffroy, M. Belke-Brea, F. LeTourneux and F. Dulude-de-Broin for assistance in the field and M. Séguin and A. Desmarais for providing fieldwork facilities. Catherine Marois helped preparing and aliquoting tubes before fieldwork. Marie-Pier Chênevert trained the field team on how to wear proper PPE and swabbed the team jointly with Daniel Perreault. Marc-Antoine De La Vega and Marc Alexandre Lafrance processed SARS-CoV2 tests of all field crew members. Chanel Dupont organized all the samples and helped with sample extractions. Gary Kobinger provided some lab facilities and equipment. All bird handling and fieldwork protocols were conducted according to the relevant national and institutional regulations on animal welfare and were approved by the “Comité de protection des animaux de l’Université Laval” (CPAUL # 2019-304, delivered the 2020-03-02) and the Canadian Bird Banding Office (banding permit 10648, delivered the 2020-04-22).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Product information sheet: https://www.thermofisher.com/document-connect/document-connect.html?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.thermofisher.com%2FTFS-Assets%2FLSG%2Fmanuals%2F4444464_TaqMnFstVrusMM_PI.pdf&title=UHJvZHVjdCBTaGVldDogVGFxTWFuIEZhc3QgVmlydXMgMS1TdGVwIE1hc3RlciBNaXg=.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies, Sentinelle Nord program from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund and the Network of Centres of Excellence of Canada [ArcticNET]. The Littoral Research Chair (2019-2020) is mainly funded by Sentinel North and the Northern Contaminants Program (NCP) of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. Mélanie Lemire received a Junior 2 salary grant (2019-2023) from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé.