The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved declaring monkeypox a local emergency on Tuesday, August 2, a day after California Governor Gavin Newsom declared the illness a public health emergency.
LA County Board of Supervisors Chair Holly J. Mitchell said: "The proclamation of local emergency is to help our county do all that we can to get ahead and stay ahead of this virus."
San Diego County also declared a public health emergency for monkeypox on Tuesday. San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said the situation they were facing with monkeypox is different from that of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).
"We take it very seriously, but as I mentioned earlier, it is exponentially less transmissible. We know more about it. We also have a vaccine at the start of it," he said.
Fletcher also said monkeypox primarily impacts the LGBTQ community, echoing statements made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization (WHO). Both agencies said that homosexual males are the primary spreaders of the monkeypox virus, which was was mainly confined to West and Central Africa until recently. (Related: SCHLONG COVID: Global study finds that almost every case of monkeypox occurs among a homosexual or bisexual male.)
Mayors in San Francisco and New York City also recently declared emergencies over the virus, just days after the WHO declared the outbreak in more than 70 countries a global emergency. So far, there had been 5,811 cases of monkeypox recorded in the United States, with 1,390 cases in New York, 827 in California and 520 in Illinois.
Officials confirm pediatric case of monkeypox
In Long Beach, officials confirmed a pediatric case of monkeypox, although it remains unclear how the child contracted the illness.
Dr. Anissa Davis, the city's health officer, said on Tuesday that while news of a pediatric case may cause alarm, "please remember that monkeypox is still rare, is much more difficult to get than COVID-19 and other common childhood illnesses and is rarely dangerous." (Related: WHO says monkeypox outbreak unlikely to turn into next global pandemic.)
Monkeypox was officially declared a public health emergency in California on Monday, August 1. "We'll continue to work with the federal government to secure more vaccines, raise awareness about reducing risk," Newsom said in a statement.
California has received over 61,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine and has distributed over 25,000 of these doses.
The type of monkeypox virus identified in the current outbreak is said to be rarely fatal, and people usually recover within weeks of contracting the virus. However, the lesions and blisters that come with it can be very painful.
For Newsom, the alert in California was issued to help the state health department increase its vaccination programs and education and outreach efforts to respond to the virus.
"California is working urgently across all levels of government to slow the spread of monkeypox, leveraging our robust testing, contact tracing and community partnerships strengthened during the pandemic to ensure that those most at risk are our focus for vaccines, treatment and outreach," he said.
He added that he will be working with the federal government to secure more vaccines, raise awareness about reducing risks, and stand by the LGBTQ community in fighting stigmatization – despite declaring that gay men are likely spreaders of the disease.
Illinois under state of emergency due to monkeypox
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker also declared a state of emergency due to monkeypox outbreaks on Monday.
"[Monkeypox] is a rare, but potentially serious disease that requires the full mobilization of all available public health resources to prevent the spread," he said. "That's why I am declaring a state of emergency: to ensure smooth coordination between state agencies and all levels of government, thereby increasing our ability to prevent and treat the disease quickly."
Declaring a state of an emergency helps with logistics and coordination between departments that are working to respond to such an emergency. In the case of the monkeypox outbreak, this means devoting more resources to testing opportunities and vaccinations, including mobilizing who can administer them while accessing funds designated for emergencies.
Visit MonkeyPoxPanic.com for more news related to monkeypox.
Watch the video below to know more about California's declaration of the monkeypox as a health emergency.
This video is from the alltheworldsastage channel on Brighteon.com.
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