Again, caged mink COVID-19 infection of humans

This 22 May 2020 video says about itself:

The Dutch government is set to screen mink farms in the country to find coronavirus transmission cases from minks to humans, following the results of an ongoing investigation where a worker at one of the farms is believed to have contracted COVID-19 from one of the animals.

Footage filmed at one of the country’s infected mink farms in the outskirts of Deurne on Thursday shows little to no movement in the area, as well as one of the neighbours raising his concerns about what precautions to take due to the lack of information.

“We received a letter from the municipality 14 days ago saying that our neighbor caught coronavirus from the minks. The road was closed and an investigation was carried out, but one week after they opened the street again. But people here in the neighbourhood do not yet know exactly what is going on and what has been investigated,” stated Jan van de Vijver.

“The neighbours are certainly concerned, the research ended and people do not know anything about what should be done afterwards,” he added.

According to media reports, traces of coronavirus have been found in either barn dust or animals of four different mink farms in the Netherlands, in addition to a virus strain matching one of the infected animals to the worker.

Fears of cats possibly being the vector of the disease will also be studied, after coronavirus antibodies were found in three out of 11 cats living in these farms.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, since the beginning of the outbreak the Netherlands have registered 44,700 cases of the novel coronavirus and 5,775 deaths related to the virus thus far.

Translated from Dutch NOS radio today:

In the Netherlands there is very likely a second mink to human infection. Minister Schouten announced this in a letter to the House of Representatives. …

Veterinarians have criticized the minister’s approach so far in an anxious letter, Brabants Dagblad daily reports. They feel that she said too surely that the risk of corona contamination on mink farms is negligible. …

The vets are critical of investigations into the contamination risk to the environment and of the “reassuring” reports from the ministry. …

The results of veterinary epidemiological research are expected this week, says Schouten. This was done in three locations where minks are bred and where possible contamination from animal to human has taken place.

The situation in Deurne is of particular concern to the veterinarians. A mink farmer in that place is infected with the coronavirus, so are his wife and daughter. The mink breeder assumes that he has been infected by his animals. …

A large number of animals got respiratory problems and died.

A team of scientists studying the origin of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that has caused the COVID-19 pandemic, found that it was especially well-suited to jump from animals to humans by shapeshifting as it gained the ability to infect human cells: here.