A wild mink tested positive for coronavirus earlier this month in Oregon, raising several alarm bells about the potential for COVID-19 strains.
In a statement, the Oregon Department of Agriculture said the mink received a positive test from the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory, which was confirmed on December 22 after being captured on December 13.
It appears that the mink had a low level of the virus in its system.
He appears to have escaped from a quarantine mink farm in Oregon since ten mink samples tested positive for coronavirus in late November.
A wild mink has tested positive for coronavirus in Oregon. Pictured: A mink in Denmark
The Oregon mink was one of nine animals that escaped from a farm where a mink outbreak had already taken place – the other animals did not give positive results. Pictured: A mink in Denmark
Along with the affected mink, three cats and five wild opossums also escaped from the quarantined farm, although none of the other animals tested positive for COVID.
“It’s beyond outrageous that an infected mink can escape even from a quarantined fur farm, putting an unspeakable range of wildlife at risk of contracting the virus,” the environmental health director at the Center for Biological Diversity, Lori Ann Burd.
“As much as I hope this case of COVID-19 is limited to the mink they tested in the wild, we know that this virus is highly contagious and that one case is growing rapidly in many.”
Burd warned in an opinion column about OregonLive that the infected mink could “not only spread the virus among the wild mink, but give rise to a mutant viral strain that threatens to compromise our recently beaten vaccines.”
Meanwhile, the problem of the farm itself seems to have been stifled, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Only one of the 62 minks tested positive for coronavirus on December 7, and none did so on December 21, which means that the quarantine will be completed pending the results of a final round of testing.
“There is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is circulating or has been established in the wild,” said Dr. Ryan Scholz of ODA. “Several animals of different species were taken, and all the others were negative. However, we take this situation very seriously and continue to research and capture near the farm. “
Of the minks still on the farm in question, none have recently yielded positive results, and the farm quarantine is almost complete. Pictured: a wild mink in Minnesota
The outbreak comes after Denmark ordered the slaughter of 17 million minks to prevent human mink infections after 12 cases in the country
Dr. Scholz continued, “We also asked the USDA to perform additional tests on the captured mink, including viral genome sequencing and a DNA test to make sure we know exactly where this mink came from.”
Farm miners are thought to have contracted coronavirus from a human, which is why ODA does not release the farm name; protects a person’s private health.
Capital Press reports that there are only 11 mink farms allowed in the state, however, with eight in Marion County, two in Clatsop County and one in Linn County.
The only states that produce more fur than Oregon are Wisconsin, Utah and Idaho.
Concerns about the Oregon mink outbreak are leading to devastation with the Danish mink community.
After 12 people in the country tested positive for COVID-19 due to exposure to minks, the country ordered the killing of 17 million miners in the country.
However, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen apologizes for the decision, as the dead minks begin to surface.
There is evidence that coronavirus has the ability to move, which could adversely affect vaccines launched around the globe.
South Africa and the United Kingdom are among the countries that have announced new strains of virus circulating within their borders.
Meanwhile, the United States is trying to seize the original outbreak of COVID-19.
There are currently over 18 million cases of coronavirus in the country, with the death toll reaching 330,279 people.
There have been more than 18 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States since March