In response to the spread of monkeypox, the governor of the state of New York has declared a state of emergency. "This action allows us to respond more quickly to the outbreak and take additional steps to vaccinate more New Yorkers," Kathy Hochul said in a statement released Friday (local time). To contain the virus, you have to “use every tool” and protect risk groups in particular as well as possible. Up to 150,000 residents of the city are at risk of infection.
Among other things, contact tracing will be intensified and more health workers mobilized to administer vaccinations. In addition, the test capacities would be expanded. The state of emergency is valid until August 28th. Also on Friday, the state's Department of Health reported 1,383 confirmed infections with the monkeypox virus, which are mainly concentrated in the metropolis of New York - this corresponds to about a quarter of all cases previously registered in the USA. California reported 799 cases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) had already declared the highest alert level last weekend. As of the most recent count, there have been nearly 23,000 cases of monkeypox worldwide. The Europe region is particularly affected with more than 14,000 cases, around 2,600 of which are in Germany.
Currently, the outbreak is largely focused on men who have sex with men. However, according to the health authority CDC, cases in children have already been confirmed in the USA. Monkeypox infection can cause a rash, swollen lymph nodes, fever, chills, and muscle pain. As a rule, the disease is not fatal, but the first two European deaths in Spain became known on Friday and Saturday.
