Biologist Winifred Frick argues for precautions to shield North American bats from the coronavirus
There’s nothing Winifred Frick likes better than crawling through guano-filled caves and coming face-to-face with bats. As chief scientist of Bat Conservation International, she is on a mission to promote understanding of bats and protect imperiled species from extinction.For months, though, Frick has avoided research that would put her within spitting distance of bats. Her only projects to persist through the pandemic have been conducted from afar, like using acoustic monitors to eavesdrop on the animals’ squeaks and swooshes.
Scientists are not worried about catching SARS-CoV-2 from these bats. They’re afraid of giving it to the bats — not an impossibility, the authors argue, given that the United States leads the world in infections, with nearly 8 million as of October 16.
“We can’t tell bats to socially distance,” Frick says. “We want to reduce the chance that there’s any pathogen transfer across animals, full stop.” The goal is to prevent viral “spillover.”
