D.C. has more cases of monkeypox per capita than any state, prompting public health officials to launch an aggressive vaccination campaign aimed at blanketing the most at-risk communities.
As of Friday, health departments were reporting 122 positive cases in D.C., 44 in Virginia and 37 in Maryland, but D.C. public health officials say there are more people infected than the data show because not everyone with symptoms obtains a test. New York, California, Illinois and Florida lead the country in recorded numbers of cases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show, with case counts of 489, 266, 174 and 154, respectively. Although not considered a pandemic, a global outbreak of monkeypox has touched more than 60 countries, including the United States, where more than 1,800 cases have been reported since the first one in mid-May in Massachusetts.
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) at a news conference Monday outside Whitman Walker Health, which specializes in LGBTQ and HIV care said officials are working to administer a vaccine quickly and encouraged residents to preregister for free appointments at PreventMonkeypox.dc.gov. The District has received about 8,300 doses, most of which arrived last week, and about 2,600 first doses of the two-dose regimen have been administered, she said. D.C. Health Director LaQuandra Nesbitt said Monday that by far the hardest hit are people in their early 30s who belong to the LGBTQ-plus community, but she emphasized that the virus can infect anyone. “It is important that we do not create stigma at this time and that we encourage individuals to be on the lookout for symptoms,” she told reporters Monday.
The CDC is allocating doses of Jynneos, the only vaccine specifically approved to prevent monkeypox, based on the number of confirmed monkeypox cases and the size of the population of men who have sex with men who are HIV-positive. D.C. was part of the initial tier of recipients and has received significantly more vaccine than neighboring states. The District expects to receive an additional 4,000 doses next week and is looking for partners, especially those serving the Black LGBTQ community, to host pop-up clinics, Nesbitt said. D.C. is often treated as a state for infection tracking and federal funding purposes, but even compared with cities D.C. has among the highest monkeypox case rates. As with the coronavirus, the entirely urban nature of the District means the virus has a better chance of spreading, whereas states have urban, suburban and rural areas.
D.C. officials declined to say in which wards cases are most prevalent to protect people’s privacy. A few District residents have been hospitalized for pain control, but no one has been hospitalized directly because of monkeypox complications, he said. “Monkeypox can be exceptionally painful, especially if there are lesions on the penis, a lot of penial swelling, on the anus as well, it can be significantly painful,” Ashley said. “This is not chickenpox.” He encouraged people to be vigilant in monitoring themselves and their sexual partners for any unusual skin conditions. “If they see something strange on their body whether it’s a rash or a lesion or something that just doesn’t look right, [it’s important] that they talk to their provider,” he said. “People can be apprehensive about talking to their doctor about things on their body that could be monkeypox or something else. We want individuals to feel comfortable seeking care.”
Source: This news is originally published by washingtonpost