‘Mink fur industry cause of COVID-19 pandemic’

This 17 August 2020 video from the USA is called Utah mink test positive for virus linked to COVID-19 in humans.

Translated from Dutch NOS radio today:

Research: dozens of infections on mink farms

At least 66 workers and family members have been infected by outbreaks on mink fur businesses. That is 68 percent of the total number of people tested on the farms, according to an extensive Dutch investigation into the outbreak at sixteen businesses. Certainly in a number of cases the virus has been transmitted from mink to humans. The outbreak on mink farms is therefore more fierce than expected. Minister Schouten (Agriculture) initially did not estimate the risk of mink contamination on humans to be high.

The research was published on a life sciences website early this month. The scientists suspect that the virus had been circulating in mink populations for some time before it spread to humans. The virus also mutated widely among minks; on average once every two weeks.

The scientists do not have a direct explanation for the fact that the virus spread from breeding business to breeding business in May and June, when the outbreak was contained nationally. They list infected farm visitors or feral cats as possible causes. The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority has now also started an investigation into possible deliberate infections. In total, at least fifty of the 128 mink farms in the Netherlands are now infected.

However, the study has virtually established that mink can be regarded as a reservoir for the virus. Virologist and research leader Marion Koopmans of Erasmus MC tells De Volkskrant daily that the fur industry may well be the “missing link” that contributed to the transfer from animals to humans in China. “This could be a plausible intermediate step in the virus’ journey from bats to humans,” she says.