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Wastewater's Role in Public Health & How to Avoid Animal-Borne Diseases this Spring · Healthier Together: Larimer County's Public Health Podcast

• 0:01
  Welcome to Healthier Together, Larimer County's
• 0:04
  public health podcast, where we come together
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  for healthier lives, connected communities, and
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  real conversations. From your local public health
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  team, I'm your host, Tom. And I'm Joanna. This
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  is your weekly Minnesota, where we'll provide
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  a brief update on local public health news. So
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  Tom, what's up in public health this week? Well,
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  today we have our communicable disease program
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  manager, Matt Bauer, here to talk to us about
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  wastewater surveillance. Matt, thank you so much
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  for joining us. Thanks for having me. So go ahead
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  and tell us what exactly is wastewater surveillance?
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  Wastewater surveillance is using our municipal
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  sewage systems to detect different organisms
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  and really understand what the trends may be
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  within the community and also for our more novel
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  Diseases really understanding when the presence
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  of a certain pathogen may be present. Is this
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  a relatively new technology or surveillance technique,
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  or have we been using it for a while? Yeah, so
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  I would say in the academic world, this has probably
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  been around for quite some time, but it was really
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  during COVID where we first saw wastewater surveillance
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  become operationalized. And to be honest, I think
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  even up to this point within the last several
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  years, we're still... trying to fine -tune and
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  really figure out how we can best use this information
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  and, more importantly, how we can communicate
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  this information to the public. So we have done
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  another segment, and we've seen a recent increase
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  in the number of measles cases throughout the
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  state and even the country. How have both the
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  state and Larimer County used wastewater surveillance
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  to detect recent measles cases? Wastewater surveillance
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  is detected within individual water treatment
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  centers. And so in Colorado currently right now,
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  we have 22 active sites around the state of Colorado.
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  And so those are collected twice a week. and
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  sent to the state lab for testing for various
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  pathogens, including measles. So during normal
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  operations, we're testing, since measles isn't
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  routinely transmitted, we're really looking for
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  the presence or absence of measles initially.
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  And so wastewater is oftentimes the first time
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  we may... detect or realize that measles transmission
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  may be occurring within a community. And so wastewater
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  surveillance is a great opportunity for communities
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  to really rapidly have that understanding that
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  measles may be a risk in that community. Because
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  unlike other forms of disease surveillance, it
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  often requires a person to go to a provider and
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  then to be tested and for those results to then
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  come back and be sent to a public health department
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  with wastewater we eliminate those active behaviors
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  and we're really just collecting it passively
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  through the wastewater surveillance system so
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  the first thing like i mentioned is we're doing
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  that background surveillance and really once
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  we know it's in the it's maybe in a community
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  there is also what we call our emergency sites
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  around so there's 42 additional sites that are
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  not part of that active routine surveillance.
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  And so we have current cases around Broomfield,
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  Adams County, Boulder County. And so in areas
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  where we know that there's some degree of measles
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  transmission, these emergency sites can be activated
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  so we can have a larger scope and understand
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  are there other communities or other locations
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  within those communities where measles transmission
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  may be going on. Because one limitation with...
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  wastewater surveillance is we're really only
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  able to detect it within those specific watershed
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  locations. So, you know, for instance, within
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  Larimer County, there's probably seven or eight
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  different wastewater treatment plants. And so
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  if you only have one wastewater plant active
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  where you're collecting samples, that's only
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  really telling you about that specific location
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  that covers that watershed. Gotcha. So it sounds
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  like in terms of like the resolution or the granularity,
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  of some of the results you can get. It's kind
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  of limited by the size of that watershed. Correct.
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  And just, yeah, just the scope that you have.
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  And I think another thing. There's a lot of limitations
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  and difficulties with wastewater surveillance.
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  You can't translate that to, for instance, number
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  of cases. So we can't say we're seeing this viral
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  concentration of wastewater in the community,
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  so that means that there are probably this many
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  cases. So especially for novel things like measles,
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  it's more important to know whether it's there
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  or not. And then that's where we turn to our
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  other surveillance systems to really... confirm
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  the presence of it and really expand upon that.
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  It's really helpful as well for providing communication
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  to our healthcare providers saying, listen, wastewater
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  was detected in this location. You should have
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  a heightened awareness and, you know, you may
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  want to consider measles as a differential diagnosis
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  for measles because lots of things can cause
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  a fever and cough and rash. And so, you know,
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  we have, we routinely get calls about these sort
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  of and most likely than not, it's not measles.
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  But so knowing that measles may be in the community
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  and being able to provide that information to
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  a provider may be the difference in them deciding
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  whether or not to test for measles. So I guess
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  another follow -up question then is in terms
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  of other diseases then, you've spoken a little
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  bit about measles and COVID. What other kind
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  of diseases can you detect? Yeah, so currently
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  in the state of Colorado, we have testing for
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  COVID -19. influenza, RSV, measles, mpox, and
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  enterovirus D68. So just real quickly, enterovirus
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  D68 came into the public and public health attention,
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  I believe back in 2019. It was actually found
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  that this specific virus was linked to what we
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  call acute flaccid myelitis in children. It took
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  probably about a year of studies, but this particular
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  virus can cause some paralysis in children. And
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  so, like I mentioned, these novel things that
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  we don't see often are really important. So that's
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  where enterovirus, measles, and even Ampox are
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  important. We're also looking at including West
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  Nile virus within this upcoming season. And then
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  other states and municipalities, we've also seen
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  polio being tested and even opioids as well.
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  Gotcha. So in terms of then, The process then
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  for detecting it, what is the whole kind of life
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  cycle from detection to response look like for
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  wastewater disease surveillance for something
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  like measles? Yeah, so as I mentioned, it really
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  first starts at our wastewater treatment plant.
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  The wastewater treatment plants are testing for
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  total coliform and other things for bacteria,
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  making sure that they're providing safe drinking
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  water to their residents. So it really starts
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  at the wastewater plants. That individual will
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  go, they collect their sample, that's shipped
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  down to the state lab, and those tests are run
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  in -house at our state lab. And so, like I said,
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  that's done twice a week, and that information
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  and that data is uploaded on a weekly basis to
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  a public dashboard. Gotcha. So you'd probably
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  have like a three - to four -day lead time from,
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  hey, there's something that actually showed up
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  in the watershed to, hey, we have a report that
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  says this is something that we are seeing. Currently,
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  there's, like I mentioned, there's 22 sites.
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  They're covered throughout. The state of Colorado
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  looking at what we call the all -hazards regions,
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  making sure that there's an equal representation,
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  and then they also have additional sites at high
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  tourism areas, especially along their western
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  front. Especially when you're thinking about
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  these tourist areas where we may get international
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  travelers and there may be other novel diseases,
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  there could be benefits of having surveillance
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  in those locations as well. Gotcha. That's really
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  interesting. You did speak briefly about some
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  of the limitations. I'm imagining that maybe
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  in some of the more rural parts of the county
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  where somebody might have like a septic tank
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  on site wastewater treatment, that that's probably
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  not something that we could surveil. You know,
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  that is that that is a limitation. And I don't
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  think that's anything you can really overcome
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  is we'll never have coverage in those more rural
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  areas, mountainous areas that are unseptic. I
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  think a couple other limitations. As I mentioned,
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  you can't necessarily say a certain viral concentration
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  equates to a certain number of cases. I will
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  say, when we're dealing with more, when we have
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  good surveillance data and we have several years
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  of data, you can look at, well, are there certain
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  viral concentrations that have a correlation
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  with cases or with hospitalizations? Those are
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  things, again, it's not causation, but you can
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  correlate those. And so you have a little bit
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  stronger of a feeling. So that is one thing.
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  Another thing that's really interesting is, so
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  these assays are not standardized. And so, for
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  instance, the viral concentrations that we do
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  here in Colorado, you cannot directly compare
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  those to wastewater surveillance done in another
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  state. And even, like, for instance, During the
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  pandemic, CSU was the first one to conduct wastewater
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  testing for the state of Colorado. That eventually
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  transitioned to the CDPHE lab. Well, when they
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  did that, the assay and the techniques they used
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  were completely different. So even at that point
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  of period, we can't compare viral concentrations
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  from the first method with the second method.
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  And so it's really, when you're thinking about
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  that, it's apples and oranges. Different methods
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  are completely different. And so viral concentrations
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  are really dependent on how those tests are designed
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  and the methodologies of the test. So it sounds
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  like, I mean, between the limitations, hey, it's
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  not as granular as people might think. Like,
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  I can't tell, oh, this building has this outbreak.
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  It might be this region has this outbreak. And
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  when we turn on those emergency sites around
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  it, hey, maybe these other regions do. We're
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  only really looking for some novel type of diseases
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  that show up. I am curious, though, you know,
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  how do you see this kind of changing in the future?
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  Do you think that there's other things that we
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  might start looking at, like the opioids that
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  you mentioned? Yeah, so the opioids brings on
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  some interesting questions. And I know I've been
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  in some... I've been involved in some conversations
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  and have read some literature as well. There
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  are some ethical concerns, particularly around
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  opioids and how that data could be used. Like
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  some obvious privacy concerns. Exactly, exactly.
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  And so, you know, theoretically you could do
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  wastewater surveillance at a single location
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  too. But really what you're thinking about is,
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  yeah, for instance, if that information was available
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  to law enforcement. And then they said, oh, we're
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  seeing a rise in opioid in this specific community.
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  And now we're going to send in more law enforcement
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  or we're going to launch an investigation. That
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  does get into a little gray area on ethical concerns
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  and how that data can really be used. But you
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  can look at trends overall and say. The wastewater
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  concentrations, they're going up, they're going
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  down. And then again, you can compare that to
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  historical data and just making sure that aligns.
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  And that's really the thing is with wastewater
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  surveillance, it's not the end -all, be -all.
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  You don't want to draw specific conclusions.
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  You want to make sure and collaborate that data
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  with additional surveillance systems. Wastewater
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  surveillance, you compare that with our case
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  surveillance, and really together it tells you
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  that full story. It sounds like this whole process,
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  it generates a lot of data. What kind of data
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  is available for the public and where could they
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  see it? Yeah, so all of this data is available
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  for the public. It's on CDPHE's website. They
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  try and keep that data at a really high level.
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  If you go on there, really it's looking at, for
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  the novel diseases, it's looking at whether or
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  not it was detected or not. And then for more
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  common pathogens like influenza, COVID, RSV.
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  Again, it's really looking at that trend data.
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  Are we seeing increases of viral concentrations?
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  Are we seeing decreases? Are they steady? They're
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  really helpful to know when you're entering a
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  season and when the season is really starting
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  to increase. Obviously, like when you're talking
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  about influenza, when you're in the peak of hospitalizations
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  and you're seeing a lot of severe disease, it's
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  probably not that helpful. But it also might
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  be helpful because wastewater surveillance can
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  tell you early. you're starting to see a rapid
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  decline. And so maybe that's something you can
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  communicate to the providers or even individuals
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  that may have high -risk conditions, maybe immunocompromised.
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  This is just another more real -time data source
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  that they can use that's reflective of that community.
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  So if you're in a community where that... watershed
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  is present, then you can maybe say, oh, we're
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  seeing decreases in a disease. Given my health
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  history and my background, I feel like now it's
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  a safe time to go out. And for a lot of these
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  seasonal viruses, you know, I think we can make
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  some assumptions and generalizations. For instance,
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  influenza trends we're seeing within the wastewater.
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  zone within one area in Larimer County is probably
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  uniformly spread across all of Larimer County.
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  Gotcha. And if people wanted to learn more about
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  wastewater surveillance, where could they go?
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  Yeah, I think again, CDPHE, they just actually
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  developed a great kind of more about wastewater
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  information that can give you a great little
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  kind of impromptu and kind of introduction into
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  that. CDC has a lot of good information. There
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  have also been some really interesting reports
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  that have come out through some national organization
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  and subject matter experts. If you really want
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  to get into the weeds, a lot of the conversations,
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  again, are how can we use this surveillance system
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  and how can we operationalize and how can we
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  act on it? Because it is a hard thing to communicate
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  to the public. Again, like when you're talking
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  about polio, if you detect the presence of polio,
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  what do you do with that now? You tell the public,
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  We've detected some concentration of polio, but
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  then what? And so I think that's the big thing
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  that we're looking at. Whenever we're considering
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  communicating with the public, it has to be followed
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  by some sort of action. And so it's hard when
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  you don't really know what a concentration means
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  or what you should do about that. Sounds like
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  there's some context that also needs to be applied
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  when, hey, we got this result. but what does
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  it actually mean? Exactly. Yeah, I think we struggled
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  a lot with that during COVID when this first
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  came out because we really, especially at that
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  point, we didn't have enough data to establish
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  trends. We didn't know how it correlated with
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  cases or with hospitalizations. So we had a bunch
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  of data, but we didn't really know necessarily
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  what it meant or what to do with it. So that's
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  an evolving field, and I think that's probably
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  the most exciting part is really as this develops
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  and as we have more studies and more knowledge
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  about these things, hopefully we can do a better
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  job of leveraging this with communications and,
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  like you said, expanding this to other pathogens.
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  The big thing is it's still a new field, and
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  we're still learning a lot. And so I think, especially
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  when people are... going out and they're looking
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  at wastewater surveillance and they're looking
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  at that data, really be sure to do a little bit
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  of background research and really understand
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  what wastewater can and can't tell you. Matt
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  Bauer, thank you so much for joining us. We really
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  appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for having me. As
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  spring approaches, we'll soon be seeing more
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  baby animals in our community. To make sure we're
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  prepared, today we have Jessica Royer, environmental
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  health specialist, here to talk about zoonoses,
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  or animal -borne diseases. Jessica, thank you
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  so much for joining us. Yes, thank you for having
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  me. To start off, can you just explain what zoonosis
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  is? Basically, diseases that are transmitted
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  from animals to humans, or even potentially humans
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  to animals. What are some of the most common
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  animal -borne diseases in Larimer County? So
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  the ones that we focus on for public health are
• 16:07
  rabies. hantavirus, plague, tularemia. Our partners
• 16:13
  in communicable disease do more of the mosquito
• 16:15
  monitoring, but typically rabies, tularemia,
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  plague, and hantavirus are the ones that we focus
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  on. When people come across wildlife this spring,
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  especially cute baby animals, what should they
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  do or not do? Well, don't touch it, especially
• 16:31
  with bare hands. That's... The number one thing
• 16:34
  that puts both you in jeopardy and the animal
• 16:38
  in jeopardy. It is recommended, kind of monitor
• 16:42
  the area, watch for signs of the parent animal
• 16:45
  to be around, make sure they're truly abandoned.
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  Most of these guys are not truly abandoned. If
• 16:50
  you determine that it is abandoned, to go ahead
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  and use a towel, a cloth, gloves, and just place
• 16:57
  the animal in a box, cover them, tuck them in
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  into a nice, quiet, dark place. And then contact
• 17:03
  one of your local wildlife rehabilitators. Now,
• 17:07
  if there is contact with your pets with this
• 17:10
  animal or if you have direct contact, I would
• 17:13
  recommend giving our department a call and we
• 17:16
  can kind of help evaluate what should next steps
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  be. Like you mentioned, often when we come across
• 17:22
  a baby animal in the wild, we are concerned if
• 17:26
  there's no parent around that maybe it's been
• 17:28
  abandoned or is sick or hurt or needs help. Is
• 17:32
  that usually the case when you come across a
• 17:34
  baby animal? Sometimes. It depends on the species.
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  Rabbits, you know, people will find and nest
• 17:42
  a baby rabbit and are very concerned there's
• 17:44
  no mama around. Rabbits in particular will just
• 17:48
  feed in the morning and at night for just about
• 17:51
  15 minutes, and otherwise they don't go anywhere
• 17:54
  near the nest. Raccoons, you know, they typically,
• 17:59
  mama's around somewhere. occasionally especially
• 18:01
  as they get older you can get a youngster that
• 18:04
  kind of gets lost from mom and wildlife rehabilitators
• 18:08
  are very very good about trying to see if they
• 18:11
  can do a you know reconnect the baby and mom
• 18:14
  if that's a potential so they can walk through
• 18:18
  what steps are to do that safely and try to get
• 18:20
  mama back with mom because that's the ideal we
• 18:22
  don't want that human involved so it sounds like
• 18:25
  often Leaving the babies alone is not only best
• 18:28
  for us so that we don't get sick or help spread
• 18:31
  diseases, but it's also best for the baby animal.
• 18:33
  Yeah. I know for myself, spring often brings
• 18:36
  some momentum and more motivation around house
• 18:39
  improvement projects or spring cleaning. Do you
• 18:42
  have any tips for homeowners to avoid animal
• 18:45
  -borne diseases as they tackle some of those
• 18:47
  spring projects? Oh, definitely. A lot of times
• 18:50
  we'll go out and start cleaning our garage or
• 18:52
  a shed, and we find out we've had some mice or
• 18:55
  other rodents that have made a home in there.
• 18:58
  And trying to tackle those, you want to do that
• 19:00
  very safely. to prevent exposure to potential
• 19:03
  hantavirus. The CDC has some great information
• 19:07
  on their website about rodent control and also
• 19:11
  safe cleanup of rodent droppings, and we normally
• 19:13
  refer to that. But you would want to open up
• 19:16
  those areas, make sure there's good airflow,
• 19:18
  avoid sweeping those areas with the droppings.
• 19:22
  We don't want to aerosolize those urine and feces
• 19:24
  for someone to inhale it. And make sure to use
• 19:28
  disinfectant, follow the label directions. Ideally,
• 19:32
  you would dilute bleach solution, but other disinfectants
• 19:35
  are effective as well. Let it sit on there for
• 19:37
  the amount of time the label indicates and then
• 19:40
  do a wet cleanup of those rodent dropping areas.
• 19:44
  That's probably the biggest one we run into.
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  And a lot of people start going up in the mountains
• 19:48
  camping, go up to cabins and all kinds of different
• 19:51
  places where those rodents have been hanging
• 19:53
  out. The other thing too. You know, if we start
• 19:56
  doing those cleaning, just kind of keep an eye
• 19:58
  out. It is baby season, so sometimes we get surprises
• 20:01
  of a mama raccoon that decided to move in under
• 20:03
  your shed. You know, skunks that decide they're
• 20:07
  going to start checking things out as well. They're
• 20:09
  looking for food. We have good gardens and we
• 20:12
  have areas that make good hiding places. You
• 20:15
  know, we need to watch for those guys there.
• 20:17
  I'm sure lots of Larimer County residents are
• 20:19
  also itching to start working in their gardens,
• 20:22
  if they haven't already. What steps should gardeners
• 20:26
  take to avoid animal -borne diseases? So what
• 20:28
  we worry about with the soil is more, we do see
• 20:32
  plague and we do see tularemia in Colorado. It's
• 20:35
  endemic. Both of those are caused by bacteria.
• 20:40
  Plague is more due to flea exposure. The flea
• 20:43
  actually harbors the bacteria. So it's usually
• 20:45
  flea bites is a very common way. But tularemia
• 20:49
  can actually exist in the environment. It's a
• 20:51
  bacteria that just hangs out in the soil. So
• 20:53
  when we actually do see that in our wildlife
• 20:56
  populations, it is kind of messaging to be careful
• 20:59
  of, you know, we don't want that bacteria to
• 21:01
  enter the body somehow. So basic good hygiene.
• 21:05
  Ideally, use gloves. It's not much fun to pick
• 21:09
  dirt out of your fingernails anyway. But when
• 21:11
  you come back in to make sure, good hand washing
• 21:13
  before you eat and drink, to keep your hands
• 21:15
  out of your mouth, those type of things are all
• 21:18
  very, very protective to keep us from being exposed
• 21:21
  to things like that. Beyond the garden, when
• 21:24
  people are doing landscaping projects, are there
• 21:26
  things they should keep in mind in that regard
• 21:28
  as well? Definitely. We want to make sure if
• 21:31
  you can do kind of a quick sweep just in case
• 21:34
  there happens to be a dead animal in the yard.
• 21:37
  For example, a dead rabbit or a squirrel. The
• 21:40
  last thing you want to do is go over that with
• 21:41
  the lawnmower. With especially tularemia, it
• 21:46
  has to injure the body. And when you run over
• 21:49
  one of those, it potentially aerosolizes into
• 21:52
  the air. If it's very dry out, like how we get
• 21:54
  towards the end of summer, potentially using
• 21:56
  a respiratory mask to go ahead and do mowing,
• 21:59
  those type of things to prevent inhaling all
• 22:01
  the dust. that's created it also helps goes a
• 22:04
  long way i mean most people come in and they
• 22:06
  have to blow their nose etc after mowing their
• 22:09
  lawn just because you inhale all kinds of pollen
• 22:11
  and dirt and everything else when you're doing
• 22:13
  it it's recommended to go ahead and wear just
• 22:16
  some sort of respiratory protection to prevent
• 22:18
  that You mentioned that zoonoses can also impact
• 22:21
  our pets. What steps can pet owners take to protect
• 22:24
  their pets? One of the big things to kind of
• 22:27
  prevent some of our wildlife interactions, especially
• 22:30
  at night, is make sure before you let your dog
• 22:34
  out to go potty, kind of turn the porch light
• 22:36
  on, make some noise, give it a minute before
• 22:39
  you let your pet out. That gives, if there is
• 22:42
  wildlife in the backyard, kind of a chance to
• 22:44
  escape and minimize the potential of a run -in.
• 22:48
  between your pet and, say, a skunk or a raccoon.
• 22:51
  The other thing is that most of our Colorado
• 22:53
  wildlife tend to carry fleas. Usually those fleas
• 22:56
  stay on the wildlife. However, especially our
• 22:59
  dogs, tend to like to stick their heads down
• 23:01
  holes, see what critters have been there, and
• 23:03
  can pick up some of those fleas if they're waiting
• 23:05
  for the next rabbit. So one of the recommendations
• 23:08
  is to make sure to talk with your veterinarian
• 23:10
  about the best flea and tick prevention for your
• 23:13
  pet. In the spring, we definitely see an increase
• 23:16
  in ticks. We didn't used to have them here as
• 23:19
  much, but I'd say over the last five years or
• 23:21
  so, our ticks have definitely become more prevalent
• 23:24
  in the area, especially when we have a wet spring.
• 23:27
  And we get a lot of reports of pets with ticks.
• 23:30
  So it's just kind of good protection to avoid
• 23:33
  having your best friend bring home some extra
• 23:36
  friends. Are there any common wildlife interactions
• 23:40
  that people tend to sort of brush off as not
• 23:44
  a big deal, but maybe they should be concerned?
• 23:47
  There's actually quite a few. So one of those
• 23:51
  is when their pet interacts with wildlife in
• 23:54
  the backyard. A lot of times we don't think much
• 23:56
  of that. Or say, for example, you let the dog
• 23:59
  out and he comes back in stinking of skunk. Most
• 24:03
  people in... Most people or folks get the skunk
• 24:05
  smell out. But what we get concerned about is
• 24:08
  if your dog tingles with a raccoon or a skunk,
• 24:11
  is there any saliva left on the dog? Are there
• 24:13
  bite wounds? Are there other things that should
• 24:16
  be addressed from a rabies risk standpoint? We
• 24:18
  actually have had some human exposures just from
• 24:22
  handling or, you know, as a pet parent, we look
• 24:26
  at the wounds or look in their mouth. We're not
• 24:29
  worried about their saliva, but saliva left from
• 24:31
  the raccoon or the skunk. that could be a potential
• 24:34
  way of exposure the other thing that we run into
• 24:38
  is sometimes people will wake up with a bat in
• 24:41
  their house and if it's at two o 'clock in the
• 24:44
  morning your first instinct is get it out we
• 24:46
  would much rather you not do that animal control
• 24:49
  you know no co -humane animal control is great
• 24:53
  about being able to respond to those type of
• 24:55
  issues But ideally, if you can contain it somehow,
• 24:58
  just put a container over it, something to contain
• 25:01
  it until it can be better evaluated, that's ideal.
• 25:05
  If we release it and we need it for testing and
• 25:07
  don't have it, you know, that becomes a much
• 25:10
  bigger conversation. And for that 2 a .m. bat
• 25:13
  scenario, the NOCO Humane Animal Control Line
• 25:17
  is 24 hours, right? They do. They have their
• 25:19
  regular business hours where you can reach their
• 25:21
  dispatch. And then after hours, they usually
• 25:25
  do have an officer on call. So if it is something
• 25:28
  that is truly urgent or like a rabies exposure
• 25:31
  where they need to capture an animal for that
• 25:33
  reason, they usually are available. The health
• 25:36
  department also has a zoonosis hotline that residents
• 25:40
  can call with concerns and questions. How can
• 25:43
  people contact the hotline and what sorts of
• 25:45
  things should they reach out about? Sure. Our
• 25:48
  zoonosis hotline is available. It's by phone.
• 25:51
  So it's 970 -498 -6666. And that's our zoonosis
• 25:56
  hotline. Horrible number. Easy to remember. And
• 26:00
  so we would recommend that you call if there's
• 26:03
  a question, if you're seeing a weird acting wild
• 26:05
  animal, or there's a weird scenario that happened,
• 26:08
  or if you are seeing, hey, we found these baby
• 26:11
  raccoons, who do we need to call? A lot of times
• 26:13
  our team can direct you to who would be the best
• 26:15
  resource, or we can kind of help walk through
• 26:18
  if there is a concern to make sure things are
• 26:20
  addressed. We can arrange for animal control
• 26:23
  to assist in picking those up. There's a lot
• 26:26
  of different things we can do. So it's just if
• 26:28
  you have questions or something is out of the
• 26:30
  ordinary or if we're seeing a die -off, like
• 26:33
  say, for example, you're all of a sudden finding
• 26:36
  quite a few dead squirrels around that is weird
• 26:40
  compared to normal. Give us a call. We'll walk
• 26:43
  it through. Typically with die -offs, it's three
• 26:46
  or more in a short period of time, like a two
• 26:47
  -week period of time. Raises some kind of questions
• 26:50
  on, okay, what is going on? So there's a lot
• 26:55
  of different reasons where, you know, please
• 26:56
  feel free, give us a call, and we'll just kind
• 26:59
  of walk through each scenario case by case and
• 27:02
  see what we need to do next. Is there anything
• 27:04
  you wish more people knew about animal -borne
• 27:06
  diseases? I think a lot of them potentially are
• 27:09
  preventable, you know, if we're aware of them
• 27:13
  and know that they're out there. And there are
• 27:16
  some very simple ways of being able to prevent
• 27:18
  them. You know, if you're concerned, talk to
• 27:22
  someone. And we can kind of walk it through and
• 27:25
  see, is it truly a concern? A lot of people don't
• 27:29
  even realize that we even have some of these
• 27:32
  diseases here. If listeners would like to learn
• 27:34
  more about animal -borne diseases or the health
• 27:37
  department's zoonosis program, where can they
• 27:39
  go? So I'd recommend going to our website, Lerner
• 27:42
  .gov, and you'll want to look under our communicable
• 27:45
  disease, and it's under animal -borne diseases.
• 27:48
  And we have a lot of just information on the
• 27:52
  diseases I mentioned at the beginning of this,
• 27:53
  you know, rabies, plague, tularemia, hantavirus.
• 27:58
  We've got a lot of the information listed there.
• 28:00
  We also, at the top of that webpage, also have
• 28:04
  the animal bite form for no -co -humane. So if
• 28:07
  there is, you know, you got bit by a dog or a
• 28:09
  cat or any animal, I mean, first things first.
• 28:13
  please follow up with your provider, but also
• 28:15
  make sure to report those so we can assist in
• 28:17
  following up on those animal bites. So on the
• 28:20
  website as well, we have our rabies map, and
• 28:22
  that actually will show if we do have current
• 28:24
  rabies -positive wildlife that have been confirmed
• 28:27
  in Larimer County, those will show up on the
• 28:30
  map. Right now, it's just showing last year's.
• 28:32
  We have not yet had any positives this year.
• 28:35
  But it is on there, and you can also look back
• 28:37
  through to the previous years and kind of see
• 28:42
  what the trends have been and kind of what's
• 28:44
  been normal for our county. Awesome. Jessica,
• 28:47
  thank you so much for joining us. Absolutely.
• 28:49
  Thank you for having me. Thanks for listening,
• 28:51
  Larimer County. Until next week, stay well, stay
• 28:54
  connected, and remember, we really are healthier
• 28:56
  together.