Mink at two Utah allies have tested positive for the virus that causes covid-19 in humans, the Department of Agriculture said Monday, announcing the first U.S. cases in a species that has been hit a lot in Europe after outbreaks there .
© Sergei Grits / AP
Mink looks out of a cage at a fur farm in the village of Litusovo, northeast of Minsk, Belarus. (AP photo / Sergei Grits)
Employees at farms in Utah, the second-largest producer of mink fur used for jackets and other luxury items, also tested positive for the coronavirus, the USDA said. Dean Taylor, the Utah State Veterinarian, told reporters Monday that state and federal agencies are conducting additional tests to determine whether the mink is infected by humans or vice versa, and whether mink is sick in other farms.
Mink was discovered to be susceptible to the virus in April, when the Netherlands reported outbreaks at various farms, and mink farms in Denmark and Spain were later affected. The three countries have since killed more than a million of the animals, according to the Associated Press, but the spread has continued: As of this month, at least 27 Dutch farms have been affected. Mink are related to ferrets, which laboratory experiments have shown to be very vulnerable to the virus.
A small number of new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in dogs, cats, and other animals in the United States and other countries, and scientists and public health officials say that evidence suggests that most animals are infected by humans and do not play a significant role. in the distribution of covid. Taylor stressed that on Monday, saying “the risk of animals spreading SARS-CoV-2 to humans is considered low,” but he noted that research is “limited.”
Dutch researchers, however, said genetic analysis strongly suggested that mink, which became ill by humans, passed it on to two farm workers, in the world’s first reports of animal-to-human transmission. That conclusion has prompted calls from infectious disease researchers for broader study of virus transmission between humans and animals.
In Utah, a state agricultural laboratory has conducted necropsies on several minks after “unusually large numbers of mink died at the farms,” the USDA said. A Washington State University laboratory found samples from five animals were positive for the virus, and the USDA veterinary lab confirmed the results. Taylor said the two farms – which he declined to identify – are in quarantine, and that there are no immediate plans for culling.
“We do not feel we have enough information to make that decision at this point,” Taylor said. “Most of these farms already have good biosecurity. I do not think they have to worry unreasonably, but we all need to take it seriously. ”
The outbreak’s report is the latest bad news for the American mink industry, which has suffered from poor production and profits in recent years and has been hit hard by President Trump’s trade war with China, the top buyer of American mink. Fur production fell 15 percent from 2018 to 2019, and the value of those sold fell 30 percent to $ 59.2 million, according to a July report from the USDA.
Clayton Beckstead, a mink farmer and regional manager for the Utah Farm Bureau, said in an interview that the declines were in part due to global overproduction of mink. But the pandemic has infected the state’s mink farms, nearly half of this year have been closed. There are now 38 farms in the state, he said.
“Our main sector is in China. “This started with the trade wars, and now no one can travel, so we can not sell any product,” Beckstead said. .
This year “has been terrible,” he said. “It’s been one thing after another.”
The sector already began biosecurity measures when the Dutch outbreak began, he said, increasing the use of masks, gloves, rubber boots and other protective measures. ‘This is our existence. We want to protect our animals. We want to protect our families and our employees … we want to stop [the virus] in his track. ”
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