CORONAVIRUS
DAILY NEWSNYDailyNews.com Sunday, March 29, 2020 11
It’s not the fault of your dog or
cat, but the coronavirus pan-
demic menacing humans is
also taking a toll on pet health
care.
Virtual appointments — the
norm for doctors who treat
humans — are the norm for
veterinarians trying to keep
their staffs safe while they also
try to keep pets healthy.
It’s not easy for vets to fig-
ure out what ails their patients
in good times — and it’s gotten
harder now.
“Animals can’t talk,” said
Dr. Sara Neuman of Vinegar
Hi l l Ve t e r i n a r y G ro u p i n
Brooklyn. “So it’s hard when
you can’t physically put your
hands on the animal.”
Neuman’s clinic and many
others have turned to curb-
side service to bridge that gap.
Owners leave their pets at the
clinic door, and wait under a
tent outside while their ani-
mal is treated.
“We ’ v e o r d e r e d h a n d
warmers, coffee and tea to
keep it comfortable — but
most clients have been really
understanding about it,” said
Dr. Brett Levitzke, chief medi-
cal officer at Veterinary Emer-
gency and Referral Group in
Gowanus.
Levitzke said his hospital
has received more phone calls
from paranoid pet owners
ab o u t m i n o r b u m p s a n d
bruises.
“It’s an interesting phe-
nomenon,” he said. “Because
they’re not at work, they’re
spending way more time withtheir pets, so they tend to no-
tice a cough here or a sneeze
there. They end up coming in
for things they may not have
noticed before.”
Dr. Dan Smith of the West
Village Veterinary Hospital
has noticed the same behavior.
“Sometimes things seem a
little bit off, and it’s hard to
know if that’s because of the
change in everybody’s routine
or something more worri-
some,” he said.
Levitzke works at a 24-
hour emergency hospital so
business has been steady. But
smaller clinics that have had
to cut back on regular pet
checkups under city and state
coronavirus rules feel the
pinch.
“Our staff has been cut a lot,
our hours have been cut a lot
and we’re probably bringing
in 50% of the revenue that we
had before,” said Neuman.
“My biggest fear right now
is being able to retain my staff.
My doctors could handle it if I
couldn’t pay them for a short
period of time, but my techni-
cians and receptionists really
do d e p e n d o n t h e i r p ay -
checks,” she said.
But Neuman has to weigh
her employees’ health when
deciding the number of pa-
tients to take in. Vinegar Hill
Veterinary Group, which has
two locations in Brooklyn, has
turned completely to curbside
visits and virtual appoint-
ments.
“I think I’d be a little less
worried if this was only a two-
week thing, but there is no end
in sight,” she said. “This is the
new normal now.”Veterinarians
also adjusting
to ‘new normal’
Many vets have
set up waiting
tents outside for
people as their
pets are treated.JESSE WARD/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWSBY ESHA RAY
NEW YORK DAILY NEWSsimilar situation. I’m doing
what I can to take care of [my
employees],” Faber added.
Faber wrote an open letter
to Gov. Cuomo last week urg-
ing him to ease the restrictions
on dental procedures. Like
Gupta, he fears a worse health
crisis if doctors can’t keep their
doors open.
“If we ignore the issue by
merely being reactive and not
proactive, in the near term we
will be facing significant yet
avoidable dental health issues
that will, in turn, lead to delete-
rious effects on overall health,”
he wrote.
Dr. Art Jung, an optometrist
and partner at Metropolitan
Vision near Union Square,
stopped seeing patients in per-
son over a week ago. He’s still
paying his employees full-time
salaries.
“We care for our staff work-
ers and we’re trying to do the
best we can. That’s why we still
have everyone still on,” he said.
“We’re working from home,
but that’s still not bringing in
the overhead that we need.”
Disaster insurance won’t
cover the loss, Jung said, be-
cause it doesn’t cover pan-
demics.
“Everyone is going to lose in
this battle,” he said. “Is this go-
ing to be the new norm for a
few months? Yes. And wehaven’t even seen the worst of
it, so we don’t know what’s go-
ing to happen.”
But Jung said his worries
are minuscule compared to
what doctors on the COVID-
front lines face daily. He re-
cently shipped more than 400
surplus surgical masks to a
hospital in Chicago, after a
physician friend told him they
were in dire need.
Dr. Oleg Goncharov of Vil-
la g e D e n t a l Me d i c i n e i n
Greenwich Village had the
same sentiment when he shut-
tered his office recently. He’s
only had one in-person visit
since then, when he usually
treats several patients a day.
“Am I worried? It doesn’t
matter if I’m worried. It’s not
up to me,” said Goncharov.
“We can’t think about that
right now. It’s our civic duty to
stay closed. We have to fight
this virus.”Dr. Oleg Goncharov (below) shuttered his
dental office, Village Dental Medicine, in
Greenwich Village (left), though he still
pops in for emergency visits. Drs. Payel
Gupta, Marc Faber and Art Jung (bottom
from left) are seeing fewer patients./ANGUS MORDANT/FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWSTTHHEE PPAAIINN