COVID CORNER
Denmark’s mink mutation, lawyer’s masturbatory mishap, plus cats in circles
COVID VS MINK
Mink are the latest victims of the coronavirus. Utah ranchers have lost at least 8,000 of the ferret-like animals, farmed for their silky, luxurious pelts. Utah’s state veterinarian Dean Taylor said the virus was first detected in the mink in August, shortly after some farmworkers fell ill with Covid-19. Initial research indicates transmission of the virus from humans to animals; so far there have been no cases suggesting the opposite.
This is the first outbreak among mink in the United States, though other cases have been detected in Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain. Denmark is the world’s biggest producer of mink fur, its main export markets being China and Hong Kong. At the end of October, the Danish government began culling mink held in its fur farms after a mutated form of SARSCoV-2 (the virus that causes the Covid-19 disease) was found in some animals. It was feared this mutation could jeopardise a future vaccine’s effectiveness, and Denmark plans to eradicate all 17 million of the unfortunate mammals. In a statement to
Toobin exposed himself in a Zoom call with colleagues
the Danish parliament on 10 November, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen admitted there was no legal basis for such a mass cull, and promised that her government will now put forward the required legislation. In the meantime, agriculture minister Mogens Jensen has urged all mink farmers to go ahead with the cull as a precautionary measure.
Mink, closely related to weasels, otters and ferrets, appear to suffer similar symptoms to humans, but with a more rapid morbidity. It is believed the animals became infected via farm workers during the pandemic, occasionally passing the virus back to them, with the potential for introducing new viral mutations in humans. So far, the mutated form of the virus has been found in 12 people. Breathing difficulties and crusting around the eyes are typically seen in mink, but the illness progresses swiftly, with most infected animals being dead the next day. It is as yet unclear what makes them susceptible to coronavirus while other species appear to be unaffected. The only other animals known to have been infected (in the USA, at least) are cats, dogs, a tiger and a lion. editions.cnn.com, 9 Oct; BBC News, 5, 10 Nov 2020.
NOT SAFE FOR WORK
The New Yorker magazine has suspended one of its senior staff writers, legal expert Jeffrey Toobin, pending investigation of a report that he was seen masturbating during a Zoom work call. “I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera,” said 60-year-old Toobin. “I apologise to my wife, family, friends and co-workers. I thought I had muted the Zoom video. I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me”. The Zoom call, with
the participation of both New Yorker staff and those from WNYC (a New York City and metropolitan area radio station), was reportedly an election simulation in which senior New Yorker staff played Republicans, Democrats, Trump, Biden, the far right, left wing Democrats, and the military. Jeffrey Toobin took the part of the courts. At one point, he allegedly joined in the call, unaware that his camera was still turned on (as indeed was he) and focused on his penis. Some observers have suggested he was engaged in another call to a different party while unaware he was still connected to the New Yorker call.
Fellow broadcaster Brian Stelter defended his CNN colleague, tweeting “Jeffrey Toobin has been sidelined at a pivotal moment in the run-up to the presidential election. The reason: He exposed himself during a Zoom call with New Yorker colleagues in what he says was an accident.” Some Twitter users then criticised Stelter’s defence, querying how a person could masturbate by accident.
Toobin is one of the USA’s highest-profile media legal analysts. He has been at the New Yorker for over 25 years, and is also a senior legal analyst at CNN, who issued their own statement saying that Toobin “has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted.” An unnamed but allegedly “well-placed” CNN source believes Toobin will be brought back after the affair has “blown over”. The married legal analyst is no stranger to scandal, having had a decade-long affair with a fellow lawyer, offering to pay for her to have an abortion when she became pregnant in 2008. When she gave birth the following year, Toobin reportedly failed to pay the full child support amount as ordered by a family court, and had to be compelled to do so by his lover’s lawyer, who threatened to reveal the whole story to Toobin’s employers. Toobin also caused a stir when he told a reporter he had visited a leading Florida swinger’s club, Miami Velvet, in order to interview the US conservative political consultant, lobbyist and convicted felon Roger Stone.
Zoom, the online video conferencing and conversation service, has been used extensively this year with so many people working from home, shielding or self-isolating. It allows large groups of people to talk together on a single call, and, if they wish, be visible on video. Users have the option to mute their microphone when not speaking and to switch off the camera if they don’t wish to be seen. A number of embarrassing or unexpected mistakes have been reported. Public figures have reportedly been seen showering during meetings, thinking they had turned off their camera and sound. An office worker was observed having sex with his partner during a work call. A woman took her laptop into the lavatory while she answered a call of nature, unaware she was broadcasting the entire proceedings to her work colleagues. Most dramatically, participants of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting conducted via Zoom apparently witnessed a man stab his father to death in May ( FT397:11). D.Mail, 22 May; vice.com, 19 Oct; Guardian, 20 Oct; Sun 19 Oct; the-sun.com, 20 Oct 2020.
CAT SOCIAL DISTANCING
White circles painted one metre (3ft) apart on the pavement outside a shop to encourage human social distancing in Quezon City, north-east of Manila in the Philippines, were instead occupied by several stray cats. As many pet ‘owners’ know, cats often seek out small, tight spaces, and sometimes like to remain inside squares or circles marked on the ground. thenewdaily.com. au, 14 May 2020.