COVID-19 Poultry Update From Iowa Poultry Association

We have been receiving a lot of concerned calls about the newly emerged COVID-19 and its relationship to poultry and poultry products. There is a lot of misinformation online that is being shared. The Iowa Layer Health Technical Advisory Committee is available to address these concerns and provides the following guidance for poultry producers and professionals to help advise clients when asked about COVID-19:

1. There is no evidence that COVID-19 can affect poultry including eggs, and chicken and turkey meat. These products are safe for human consumption.
2. There is no evidence of transmission of poultry coronaviruses* to humans or other
3. There is no evidence of human coronavirus transmission to poultry,

Human-to-human contact is the main route of COVID-19 transmission. As a general precaution, remind everyone to:

• Wash their hands
• Disinfect surfaces
• Stay home if sick and to be fever-free for 24 hours before returning to For additional information:

Centers for Disease Control: www.cdc.gov/COVID19

Iowa Department of Public Health: https://idph.iowa.gov/

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If you have additional questions, please contact your local poultry veterinarian.

*Coronaviruses (CoVs) are a large group of viruses which continuously circulate in mammals and birds. The major CoVs in poultry, infectious bronchitis viruses (IBVs) and turkey coronaviruses (TCoVs), belong to the genus gammacoronavirus which is quite different from beta-CoVs that infect humans including the current COVID-19 .