According to information acquired by The Washington Post, the Biden administration estimates it may need to spend $7 billion in response to monkeypox outbreaks in the United States.
SCOOP: U.S. may need $7 billion to mount full-fledged monkeypox fight, per internal Biden administration estimates obtained by The Post. With @TonyRomm. https://t.co/jZzPOpM5l3
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) July 26, 2022
These funds would go toward tests, vaccines and treatments for monkeypox. There have been just over 3,500 cases of the virus in the U.S. according to the CDC. Last week, the WHO declared monkeypox a "public health emergency of international concern." So far, there have been no recorded monkeypox related deaths in the U.S. Here's what the CDC says about monkeypox:
Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms, but milder, and monkeypox is rarely fatal.
This $7 billion estimate is not final in any way. It has not been proposed to nor approved by congress — it's one of a few options being considered for a spending package as a response to a monkeypox outbreak.
But it is eerily similar to something we've seen before. On March 6, 2020, the first piece of legislation providing federal funding for a national response to COVID-19 was signed into law — before the widespread lockdowns even began and changed the landscape of the world's economy and social environment for good. This early legislation approved $8.3 billion in funding for national COVID-19 response efforts.
As of May 2022, the U.S. government has spent $3.8 trillion that it doesn't have on "COVID-19 relief" and this reckless spending doesn't show signs of slowing down. WaPo reported the White House's most recent request for a COVID spending package adds up to more than $31 billion.
As Townhall reported, California state Sen. Scott Wiener is very concerned about the federal response to monkeypox, especially since San Francisco is seeing higher infection rates than most places.
It’s time for California & San Francisco to declare a state of emergency on monkeypox.
— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) July 27, 2022
Monkeypox isn’t contained. It’s spreading & we don’t have enough vaccines or testing.
A state of emergency allows flexibility on testing, contracting for services & vaccine administration.
It sounds awfully similar to what Wiener and the rest of the Left were saying back in March 2020, and we know what happened after that. In California specifically, the state saw an enormous economic downturn which impacted millions of lives — not to mention lockdown's impact on mental health that was seen nationwide.