New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene health workers help people register for the monkeypox vaccine at one of the city’s vaccination sites, on Tuesday.
Mary Altaffer / AP
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Mary Altaffer / AP
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene health workers help people register for the monkeypox vaccine at one of the city’s vaccination sites, on Tuesday.
Mary Altaffer / AP
NEW YORK – Officials in New York City declared a public health emergency due to the spread of the monkeypox virus on Saturday, calling the city the “epicentre” of the outbreak.
Saturday’s announcement by Mayor Eric Adams and Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan said up to 150,000 city residents could be at risk. The declaration would allow officials to issue emergency orders under the city’s health code and amend its provisions to take measures to help slow the spread.
Over the past two days, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has declared a state of disaster emergency and the state health department has called monkeypox an “imminent threat to public health.”
New York has recorded 1,345 cases as of Friday, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California is second, with 799.
“We will continue to work with our federal partners to secure more doses as soon as they are available,” Adams and Vasan said in the statement. “This outbreak requires an urgent response, action and resources, both nationally and globally, and this declaration of a public health emergency reflects the severity of this moment. present.”
The World Health Organization declares monkeypox a global health emergency on July 23, and the mayor of San Francisco on Thursday declared a state of emergency due to the growing number of cases.
The once-rare disease had been brewing in areas of Central and West Africa for decades but was not known to cause major outbreaks outside the continent or to spread widely among humans until May. 5, as authorities detected dozens of outbreaks in Europe, North America and elsewhere. .
To date, there have been more than 22,000 cases of monkeypox reported in nearly 80 countries since May, with about 75 suspected deaths in Africa, mainly in Nigeria and Congo. On Friday, Brazil and Spain reported smallpox-related deaths in monkeys, the first cases reported outside of Africa. Spain reported a second monkeypox death on Saturday.
The virus is spread through prolonged and close skin-to-skin contact as well as sharing bedding, towels, and clothing. In Europe and North America, it has spread mainly among men who have sex with men, although health officials stress that the virus can infect anyone.
The monkeypox virus identified in this outbreak is rarely fatal, and people usually recover within a few weeks. But the lesions and blisters caused by the virus are very painful.
