Government officials in New York City declared a public health emergency this weekend due to the spread of monkeypox. This comes after Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) already declared a "state disaster emergency" last week.
Mayor Eric Adams (D) and Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the city's commissioner for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, issued a statement declaring the state of emergency on Saturday:
Today, we are declaring monkeypox a public health emergency in New York City. Over the past few weeks, we have moved as quickly as possible to expand outreach and access to vaccines and treatment to keep people safe. This declaration, which is effective immediately, will allow DOHMH to issue emergency commissioner’s orders under the New York City Health Code and amend provisions of the Health Code to provide for measures to help slow the spread. We are also working with partners at every level of government, to obtain as many additional doses as possible, as quickly as possible, so that we can protect New Yorkers during this growing outbreak.
In other words, the mayor and the unelected health commissioner have given themselves the ability to do whatever they want in the city under the guise of protecting public health. The emergency declaration gives the following powers to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene:
The Department is authorized to supervise the control of communicable diseases and conditions hazardous to life and health and take such actions as may be necessary to assure the maintenance of the protection of public health ... I am authorized to declare a public health emergency and issue orders and take actions that I deem necessary for the health and safety of the City and its residents when urgent public health action is necessary to protect the public health against an existing threat.
Dr. Vasan — who was appointed to the commissioner position by Mayor Adams — signed off on the declaration and will be the primary authority in the newly established public health crisis. This means, once again, an unelected official has been given enormous power to make choices that could further cripple the market and cost people their jobs, lives, and independence if he uses his emergency powers to establish lockdowns.
As of now, there have been no deaths caused by monkeypox in the United States. Worldwide, there were only 5 deaths as of July 20 according to the WHO. That's less than 0.04% of the total cases. New York State is currently at about 1345 total cases of monkeypox. In mid to late March 2020, there were comparable numbers of COVID-19 cases in the state. According to a timeline put together by Investopedia, there were two COVID related deaths as of March 14, 2020. Just days later, on March 22, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) issued an executive order called "New York on Pause" which put all "non-essential workers" on lockdown. It took very little time for the state of New York to go from trying to slow the spread to dictating New Yorkers' every move in every area of their lives.
The city is providing information and resources about monkeypox and says monkeypox primarily affects men having sex with other men. Townhall has reported the virus is not strictly a sexually transmitted disease nor does it exclusively affect gay and bisexual men, but they are currently the most impacted population and sexual contact is the easiest way to get sick. Here's what the city is advising people do to avoid the virus:
The best way to protect yourself from monkeypox is to avoid sex and other intimate contact with multiple or anonymous partners.
If you choose to have sex or other intimate contact, the following can help reduce your risk:
- Reduce your number of partners, especially those you do not know or whose recent sexual history you do not know.
- Ask your partners if they have monkeypox symptoms or feel sick. If you or your partners are sick, especially if you or they have a new or unexpected rash or sore, do not have sex or close physical contact.
- Avoid sex parties, circuit parties and other spaces where people are having sex and other intimate contact with multiple people.
- If you choose to have sex or other intimate contact while sick, cover all rashes and sores with clothing or sealed bandages. This may reduce spread from contact with the rash or sores, but other methods of transmission may still be possible.
- Since it may be possible the virus can be transmitted through semen, use latex condoms during sex.
- Do not share towels, clothing, fetish gear, sex toys or toothbrushes.
- Wash your hands, fetish gear and bedding. Sex toys should be washed after each use or sex act.
To review, in 2020, people were told to stop attending church, stop sending their children to school, and stop patronizing local businesses. But now, for an illness that spreads mainly through sexual contact, government officials are putting out guidelines for sexual hygiene rather than advising a pause on unnecessary sexual contact.