Two pet cats in New York have tested positive for the coronavirus, a discovery that comes after seven tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo were found to have contracted the disease, federal officials said Wednesday. The two cats are the first pets in the country to test positive for COVID-19, according to the Associated Press. “We don’t want people to panic. We don’t want people to be afraid of pets,” Dr. Casey Barton Behravesh of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the AP. “There’s no evidence that pets are playing a role in spreading this disease to people.” The agency said that it appears the cats, which are expected to recover, contracted the virus from people in their vicinity. The CDC is advising pet owners to keep their animals in their homes as a precautionary measure and only seek out testing for them if they are exhibiting symptoms or were exposed to someone infected with the virus.
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