The virus that causes COVID-19 has been spreading through Virginia wildlife, and Virginia Tech researchers say well-populated areas are likely where it spread from humans to animals.

While SARS-CoV-2 infections were previously identified in wildlife, primarily in white-tailed deer and feral mink, Virginia Tech researchers attempted to see whether the virus had spread to common backyard wildlife.

Researcher Carla Finkielstein, who is also director of the Virginia Tech Molecular Diagnostics Lab, said tracking the spread of the virus is important.

“The more we get vaccinated and protected, the higher the chances that the virus will try to find a new host,” Finkielstein said. “The virus is indifferent to whether its host walks on two legs or four — its primary objective is survival.”

The research team collected 798 nasal and oral swabs across Virginia from animals that were either live-trapped in the field and released, or were being treated in wildlife rehabilitation centers.

The team obtained 126 blood sample from six species. The study also identified two mice at the same site on the same day with the exact same variant, suggesting they either both got it from the same human, or one mouse infected the other.

Finkielstein said it’s not clear how the virus was transmitted from humans to wildlife.

“The most reasonable speculations are trash, food residues, wastewater,” she said. “Something that we humans infected, discarded or disposed of, and then the animals picked it up.”

When asked whether there was any indication that animals could also spread COVID to humans, she said, “We don’t have evidences of the other way around.”

The team will continue its research supported by a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, in part to understand how the virus’ presence in wildlife may influence the long-term maintenance of COVID in humans.

“We shouldn’t be afraid of wildlife or interacting with wildlife,” Finkielstein said. “We just need to be mindful of how we do this.”

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The city of Wheeling, W.Va., enacted its camping ban for homeless people earlier this year. Since April, this spot along Maintenance Trail has been the one legal place for people to camp. (Daniel Finsley | Finsley Creative for West Virginia Watch)

In West Virginia’s gubernatorial race, candidates have seemingly differing views about how government should respond to homelessness. 

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that laws that prohibit homeless people from sleeping outside do not violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, even when there are no shelter beds available.

Advocates for homeless people say the ruling could open the door to more states and cities criminalizing homelessness by enacting camping restrictions. Already, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered that state agencies remove homeless encampments from state parks, beaches, agency buildings, highways and the areas between them, the Associated Press reported. 

In West Virginia, a Morgantown councilwoman has suggested the city expand its camping ban. 

Nationally, more than 650,000 are estimated to be homeless in the United States, the most since the country started doing point-in-time counts in 2007, the Associated Press reported. 

In West Virginia, the state Department of Human Services recently released a $373,000 study about homelessness. Senate Bill 239, passed during the 2023 legislative session, required the study to be completed and submitted to lawmakers for consideration of legislation relating to the homeless in the state. 

Asked whether he would sign a bill that legislated a statewide ban on camping in public, were one to come across his desk, Democratic candidate Steve Williams, the mayor of Huntington, said he believes in addressing the root causes of homelessness, not just the symptoms. 

“While I understand the concerns about public safety and the use of public spaces, a statewide ban on public camping without providing adequate housing and support services would only criminalize our most vulnerable citizens,” Williams said in an emailed statement. “I would focus on expanding affordable housing, increasing access to mental health and addiction services, and creating comprehensive programs to help individuals transition out of homelessness. 

“Addressing homelessness requires compassion, support and real solutions, not punitive measures,” he said. 

The city of Huntington does have a camping ban. Between April and mid July, the Huntington Police Department wrote nine citations for loitering, camping or trespassing to homeless people, according to the city’s response to a Freedom of Information Act request. 

The campaign for Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the state’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, did not respond to emails asking if Morrisey would support a statewide ban on camping.

But Morrisey, as the state’s attorney general, did sign on to an amicus “friend of the court” brief on behalf of Grants Pass, the Oregon city at the heart of the Supreme Court ruling that enacted laws prohibiting people from sleeping in public. 

In the court filing, the two dozen states argue that they are responsible for protecting the health and safety of all their residents, homeless or not, but the policies should not be up to federal governments. 

“[States] sovereign duties also include defining crimes and enforcing a criminal code within their borders,” they argue. “They do not always approve of each other’s policies on homelessness, much less the broader set of policies other States choose to pursue in their criminal codes. But they all agree these choices are theirs to make — not the federal government’s, and certainly not the federal courts’.”

In an earlier statement to West Virginia Watch about the amicus brief, Morrisey said that local and state governments should have the power to select the solutions that work best for them.

“Instead, as we’ve pointed out in our amicus brief, decisions like Grants Pass effectively turn federal courts into homeless czars, stripping away traditional state authority over criminal law and making the problem worse,” he said in the statement. “As the brief said, that’s the wrong approach — this issue is a matter of local concern.”

The popular deli meat company Boar’s Head is recalling an additional 7 million pounds of ready-to-eat products made at a Virginia plant as an investigation into a deadly outbreak of listeria food poisoning continues, U.S. Agriculture Department officials said Tuesday.

The new recall includes 71 products made between May 10 and July 29 under the Boar’s Head and Old Country brand names. It follows an earlier recall of more than 200,000 pounds of sliced deli poultry and meat. The new items include meat intended to be sliced at delis as well as some packaged meat and poultry products sold in stores.

They include liverwurst, ham, beef salami, bologna and other products made at the firm’s Jarratt, Virginia, plant.

The recalls are tied to an ongoing outbreak of listeria poisoning that has killed two people and sickened nearly three dozen in 13 states, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly all of those who fell ill have been hospitalized. Illnesses were reported between late May and mid-July.

The problem was discovered when a liverwurst sample collected by health officials in Maryland tested positive for listeria. Further testing showed that the type of bacteria was the same strain causing illnesses in people.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we decided to immediately and voluntarily expand our recall to include all items produced at the Jarratt facility,” the company said on its website. It has also halted production of ready-to-eat foods at the plant.

The meat was distributed to stores nationwide, as well as to the Cayman Islands, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Panama, Agriculture Department officials said.

Consumers who have the recalled products in their homes should not eat them and should discard them or return them to stores for a refund, company officials said. Health officials said refrigerators should be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized to prevent contamination of other foods.

An estimated 1,600 people get listeria food poisoning each year and about 260 die, according to the CDC.

Listeria infections typically cause fever, muscle aches, and tiredness and may cause stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions. 

Symptoms can occur quickly or for up to 10 weeks after eating contaminated food. The infections are especially dangerous for people older than 65, those with weakened immune systems and during pregnancy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.