News Reports Not Telling Truth on Deer and Covid

Can you catch Covid-19 from an interaction with a white-tailed deer? Are deer spreading Covid across North America? The short answer to both questions is “probably not,” or at least no one has a clue right now. One thing we do know with some certainty, however, is that news reporters are not telling the whole truth about the very early research projects dealing with deer and Covid.

And they are needlessly scaring a whole lot of people in the process.

But here we go again: Another so-called news agency putting out a story about white-tailed deer spreading a disease. The latest is a “scientific” report about deer spreading Covid. It’s not true. The study, which is sketchy at best, has been circulating across almost all of the popular news outlets since Christmas, and has even been picked up by National Public Radio and others.

According to renowned whitetail biologist (and D&DH contributor) Jim Heffelfinger, the reports are downright false. According to Heffelfinger:

“Sloppy reporting shows up in scary headlines about deer having COVID-19. Not true. A few studies of whitetail blood samples show evidence that a fairly high percentage (33-40 percent) of the deer tested have been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, but no deer has shown up with any clinical signs of being sick with COVID-19.”

Huge difference between being tested positive for exposure and actually having the disease and spreading it. News agencies should be held accountable for such shoddy reporting. The studies are wildly inconclusive. One study showed a high prevalence rate of EXPOSURE to Covid (about 40% of 385 deer sampled), while another study showed one deer out of 143 sampled were exposed. To take such inconclusive evidence and run it out as “deer are spreading Covid” is beyond irresponsible, in my opinion.

Heffelfinger’s article was just published on the NRA’s website this week. He is regional game specialist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department and adjunct professor at University of Arizona. His complete article on this topic can be read here.