New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Monday declared a monkeypox state of emergency.
Adams’ emergency declaration comes after Governor Hochul issued a state of emergency for the state of New York.
NYC currently makes up 25% of the US’s monkeypox cases.
“We are continuing to see the numbers rise,” Mayor Adams said in a statement. “This order will bolster our existing efforts to educate, vaccinate, test, and treat as many New Yorkers as possible and ensure a whole-of-government response to this outbreak.”
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“Monday’s emergency executive order allows the mayor to suspend local laws, and enact new health rules.” Fox 5 NY reported.
Fox 5 NY reported:
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has declared a state of emergency due to the monkeypox outbreak. The city estimates that 150,000 people, mostly men who have sex with other men, are at risk.
The city has more than 1,200 reported cases of monkeypox, about 25 percent of all cases in the United States.
The governor had already issued a state of emergency for the entire state.
The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had declared the outbreak a public health emergency on Saturday.
The city is facing a drastic shortage of monkeypox vaccines with appointments filling up just minutes after they’re released. The city expects to get around 80,000 monkeypox vaccine doses in the coming days.
Per CDC, monkeypox is transmitted by symptomatic individuals through close contact with lesions, bodily fluids, or respiratory secretions and objects that have had contact with lesion crusts or bodily fluids, face-to-face contact, or during intimate physical contact, such as kissing, cuddling, or sex.
San Francisco last Thursday also declared a state of emergency over monkeypox.
The mayor of San Francisco declared a state of emergency after the city reported 261 cases of monkeypox.