Good News: Mosquitoes Can’t Transmit COVID-19 To Humans

Let's make this short and sweet. Of all the things we have to worry about right now (and there's plenty), a mosquito infecting you with the coronavirus is not one of those things.

We've had a lot of rain around the Rockford area this summer. With all that rain, we've also had a bumper crop of biting mosquitoes. And, since mosquitoes refuse to wear masks or face coverings of any sort, you've probably been bitten a time or two. Don't worry...at least about getting COVID-19 from these nasty little bugs.

I'm not saying that we've come to an agreement with Earth's most prolific human-killer. Mosquitoes can still transmit nasty stuff like Zika virus, West Nile virus, Chikungunya virus, dengue, and malaria. And, worldwide mosquitoes will still be responsible for killing anywhere between 700,000 and one million people this year alone.

They just won't pass along COVID-19 to you.

Researchers at Kansas State University, in the first study of its kind, have determined that SARS-CoV-2 can't replicate itself within the bodies of 3 common breeds of mosquito.

I could hit you with all the polysyllabic words from their study, but the bottom line is that since the virus can't make a home for itself in the mosquito's body, the mosquito can't pass it along to you when it bites.

If you're in the mood to read the full scope of the research done at Kansas State University, click here for all the details in a piece published just last week at Nature.com.