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Weekly Update

Frontline healthcare workers working in COVID-19 units, healthcare workers at nursing facilities, and those administering COVID-19 tests and vaccines will be first in line to receive the vaccine. 

Wolf hunting to resume in WI, MN undecided; Chemical in tires may be killing Salmon on the West Coast; COVID-19 Vaccination to begin in the United Kingdom.

Minnesota recorded a significant increase of COVID-19 cases this month, ranking 6th in the country of per capita cases during the month of November. Minnesota’s highest daily number of deaths were recorded November 24th with 101 deaths.

Vaccination is one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions ever developed. As all eyes turn to the recently announced COVID-19 vaccines, in this Weekly Topic we will dive into another side of vaccine development—veterinary vaccines. 

On November 12, federal wildlife officials removed the gray wolf from the endangered species act protection, after it had been recognized as an endangered species since 1974. Once not in the act, the wolves can be hunted for recreational purposes.

In part two of this Weekly Topic, we will discuss the tradeoffs of different ruminant systems, and steps toward a more productive approach to valuing those impacts.

Ruminant agriculture—food production from cud-chewing livestock species including cattle, sheep, goats, and camels—has a complicated relationship with people and our planet. It is crucial to recognize and value the diverse functions and contributions of ruminants to planetary health in order to move toward livestock systems which are beneficial and sustainable in the long run.

Reindeer on display at the Minnesota Zoo have succumbed to the effects of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) in recent weeks. 4 out of 8 animals held at Minnesota’s largest zoo have died since the first case erupted in August.