Mpox May Flare Again. Is New York Ready?
Late last year, with cases at a trickle, New York City wound down its mpox emergency response. Health officials stopped posting updates about cases. Vaccination vans stopped appearing outside nightclubs. The number of people being vaccinated against the disease flatlined.
But the mpox virus — a close relative to smallpox whose name was changed from monkeypox last year — never completely disappeared.
Now, a year after a global mpox outbreak began and just as Pride celebrations and the summer party season are set to start, public health authorities are warning of a risk of new outbreaks, nationally and in New York City, primarily among men who have sex with men.
Since peaking in the city late last July at almost 100 cases a day, the disease has continued to circulate at much lower levels. Health officials stopped posting case information on the city’s website at the end of last year. The health department said there had been at least 39 mpox cases in New York so far this year, including 20 in January and two in the past month.
Source: The New York Times
