1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Mink: Vectors for Infection Risk in the United States Act or the Mink VIRUS Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) The pandemic of the zoonotic coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID–19”), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (“SARS–CoV–2”), is understood to have passed from wild animals to humans and has infected and killed millions of people globally. SARS–CoV–2 continues to pose a severe threat to public health and human safety. (2) Mink are highly susceptible to SARS–CoV–2, and there is substantial evidence that humans can transmit SARS–CoV–2 to mink farmed for their fur. Outbreaks have been confirmed on at least 18 mink farms in multiple States, with more than 20,000 mink reported dead from the disease in the United States. (3) Mink can transmit a mutated form of SARS–CoV–2 back to humans. Such cases have been confirmed in Denmark, Poland, and the Netherlands, and according to public communications from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is also evidence that farmed mink have transmitted the virus to humans and to wild mink in the United States. (4) Animal management and slaughter practices on United States mink farms have facilitated the spread of SARS–CoV–2 from humans to mink. These farms confine large numbers of animals in close proximity to each other, which promotes disease transmission. The animals also experience extreme stress, which increases the potential to shed and transmit viruses over extended periods. This risk is further exacerbated by on-site slaughter practices that create additional points of exposure. (5) Farmed mink have become infected with SARS–CoV–2 in at least 12 countries to date, including the United States. Other countries have taken swift and decisive action to close or quarantine mink farms, cull animals, and pass legislation to address this crisis. (6) The World Health Organization has acknowledged human cases of COVID–19 associated with farmed mink and transmission of the virus from