Covid Dog in Georgia Died From Brain Tumor, Not Covid, Georgia Dept. of Public Health Tells TCR

The dog confirmed to have tested positive for COVID-19 last week in Georgia — the fourth confirmed canine case of the virus in the United States — did not die as a result of coronavirus, Georgia Department of Public Health spokesperson Nancy Nydam told TCR in an email today: “The final necropsy results confirm the dog’s cause of death was a brain tumor. The other dog in the home is not ill and tested negative for SARS-CoV-2.”

Last week, Georgia state health officials announced that a six-year-old mixed breed dog in the state tested positive for COVID-19; however, the dog was not showing any signs of respiratory illness, according to Georgia’s Department of Public Health. The dog “developed sudden onset of neurological illness which progressed rapidly over the course of a couple of days, and was humanely euthanized,” Georgia’s Department of Public Health said in a statement on Monday.  The dog was tested for the virus ‘out of an abundance of caution’ because its owners had recently tested positive, according to the statement.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that a fifth dog, in Texas, had tested positive for the virus. The USDA updates its list of confirmed cases in animals on its website.