[Nhcoll-l] Inquiring about COVID and specimen quarantine

Wed Apr 15 09:12:23 EDT 2020

Dear Merritt,

as far as I know there are currently restrictions on the shipment of 
parcels itself, as some parcel companies temporarily offer limited 
services to for specific countries or countries themselves closed 
borders for postal shipments/parcels. As these bans/restrictions 
strongly vary from company to company and also have a strong 
country-dependent component, it might be worth checking potentially 
existing import/export bans directly on the websites of respective 
couriers.

Regarding the specimens itself, I have not heard anything about specific 
COVID restrictions. In general, animal health regulations and 
veterinarian law is designed to address transmissible diseases in 
general (including viral infections and/or potential vectors). This of 
course also applies for any preserved specimen we usually ship. From 
this perspective, I would not expect any COVID-specific restrictions in 
veterinarian law stipulating import and export of animals and parts 
thereof, others than currently in place. If there would be amendments, 
these would have to fit into the current regulatory framework of 
veterinarian law (why should Ebola infected bats be treated different 
then potentially COVID infected ones?).

With regard to existing regulatory frameworks (at least this is the case 
for  any kind of live/fresh dead/dead preserved/dead fixed shipments 
animals between North America and Europe), there are two basic principles:

1. Health Certificates issues by veterinarian authorities confirming 
that the animal/specimen/part thereof poses no health risk (and could 
not act as vector) (proof of save sourcing)
2. The animal material is treated in a way that it poses no health risk 
(proof of safe treatment)

The latter usually requires treatments that definitely inactivate any 
germ or virus, e.g. cooking, fixing, etc. 'Inactive' and 'lifeless' is a 
fundamental requirement for a good museum specimen. This must be 
properly documented when specimens are shipped via international borders 
to avoid any hassles with vets anyway. Thus, I would not think that 
there will be COVID-specific exemptions for fixed / preserved museum 
specimens. Otherwise this would have merged for similar transmissible 
virus diseases we saw earlier, e.g. during times of bird flue, swine 
flue, Ebola etc. We imported fixed fish when Ebola was still viral in 
Central Africa without any problems based on current legislation and the 
aforementioned concepts.

If any kind of fresh material. i.e. non-fixed with potentially active 
protein-components inside specimens, it is advised to get into contact 
with your local veterinarian inspection post _before_ materials are 
sent, as enforcement of (federal) veterinarian law usually has a local 
component of those implementing the rules during on-spot inspections.

Hope this helps
Dirk

Am 15.04.2020 um 14:27 schrieb Elizabeth Merritt:
>
> Hello all,
>
> The Alliance is compiling a list of collections-related COVID issues, 
> and I hope you can help me add the issues relevant to  natural history 
> specimens. Has anyone been discussing the current or future impact of 
> COVID on shipment and intake of specimens?  E.g., bans on shipment of 
> some specimens (based on taxa, locality) as we learn more about what 
> species can be vectors for coronavirus; recommendations for quarantine 
> or treatment of some incoming specimens; need for research to inform 
> these decisions.
>
> Thank you for any information you can provide.
>
> Elizabeth
>
> Elizabeth Merritt
>
> Vice President, Strategic Foresight and
>
> Founding Director, Center for the Future of Museums
>
> American Alliance of Museums
>
> 2451 Crystal Drive, Suite 1005
>
> Arlington, VA 22202
>
> (202)218-7661
>
>
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-- 

Dirk Neumann

Tel: 089 / 8107-111
Fax: 089 / 8107-300
neumann(a)snsb.de

Postanschrift:

Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns
Zoologische Staatssammlung München
Dirk Neumann, Sektion Ichthyologie / DNA-Storage
Münchhausenstr. 21
81247 München

Besuchen Sie unsere Sammlung:
http://www.zsm.mwn.de/sektion/ichthyologie-home/

---------

Dirk Neumann

Tel: +49-89-8107-111
Fax: +49-89-8107-300
neumann(a)snsb.de

postal address:

Bavarian Natural History Collections
The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology
Dirk Neumann, Section Ichthyology / DNA-Storage
Muenchhausenstr. 21
81247 Munich (Germany)

Visit our section at:
http://www.zsm.mwn.de/sektion/ichthyologie-home/

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