Coronavirus infiltrates mink farms in US, ‘unusually higher number’ died

The pandemic coronavirus has made its way to two mink farms in Utah, resulting in an “unusually high number” of dead animals, according to an announcement Tuesday from the US Department of Agriculture.

These are the first reported cases of the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, infecting mink in the country. For months, authorities in European countries including the Netherlands, Denmark and Spain have reported outbreaks on mink skin farms, leading to the slaughter of more than a million furbearing mammals soft. From lab experiments, it’s also clear that ferrets, a relative of minks, are also easily infected with the novel coronavirus.

Affected farms in Utah have reported cases of COVID-19 in people working on the farms, which may have spread the infection to animals.

There are concerns that some mink may have asymptomatic infections and could act as a reservoir, continuing to spread the virus to other mink and, potentially, to humans. Authorities in the Netherlands have reported that farm workers may have contracted the virus from infected mink. However, the evidence is not definitive and while the virus can pass from mink to humans, it is unclear how easily this occurs.

“There is currently no evidence that animals, including mink, play a significant role in the spread of the virus to humans,” the USDA said in its announcement. “Based on the limited information available to date, the risk of animals transmitting SARS-CoV-2 to humans is considered low.”

Dean Taylor, a Utah state veterinarian, told the Washington Post that, at this time, the affected mink farms have no plans to slaughter their animals.

“We don’t feel like we have enough information to make that decision at this point,” Taylor said. “Most of these farms already have good biosecurity. I don’t think they need to worry unduly, but we all need to take this seriously.

The infections were first noticed earlier this month after large numbers of animals on farms began to die. Initial inspections suggested they had died from severe pneumonia that resembled cases seen in Europe, Tom Baldwin, a veterinary pathologist at Utah State University, Logan told Science. The magazine noted that there are 245 mink farms in 22 states, according to the Fur Commission USA, the country’s largest mink farmer association. More than a dozen of these farms are found in Utah.