Monkeypox infections continue to rise across much of the Bay Area, with nearly 100 cases diagnosed in six counties in the region as of Wednesday, marking a national trend as vaccine supplies loom large to cope with the growing global outbreak. substantially less.
Regarding the dwindling supply of vaccines from the federal government, UC Berkeley epidemiologist John Swartzberg said, “There is an overwhelming need but it is not being met.”
When the virus was first detected in the Bay Area in June, health officials linked the case to a person who had traveled. Now, it appears that local transmission is taking place within or outside the borders of the Bay Area.
San Francisco has reported 68 infections, while Alameda County currently has 17 and Santa Clara County has reported nine cases on Wednesday – a jump from the two announced last week. Marin, Contra Costa – which reported its first case on Tuesday – and San Mateo remained in the low single digits. Health officials are currently classifying the infection as both probable and confirmed.
Still, the rise is hardly a surprise to health experts.
“It’s in line with what we’re seeing in the Bay Area and across the country,” said Santa Clara County Deputy Health Officer George Han. “We were expecting an increase earlier as well. But it is happening now. Whether (positive individuals) were exposed elsewhere or within Santa Clara County, we cannot say for sure. But of course local transmission is happening. ,
Symptoms of the virus include fatigue, muscle aches, fever, headache and swollen lymph nodes. A rash and sores appear on a person’s face and body. People affected by the virus usually experience symptoms for two to four weeks. Public health officials said the virus is most likely to spread through physical touch or fluids and it is sexual activity that is causing much of the spread.
Overall, Han said the risk to the general public remains low. Although gay, transgender and bisexual men make up the majority of cases in Santa Clara County, he said, a trend in other counties and the rest of the country has been acknowledged by public health officials and says the virus is due to take a first foothold in LGBTQ. within the party scene of the community.
Monkeypox, a cousin of smallpox, is much less contagious than COVID — and also unlikely to lead to hospitalization, Han said. One in nine individuals with the virus in Santa Clara County was hospitalized, and their symptoms improved significantly after being provided the antiviral tecovirimat.
The state’s first case was reported by officials in Sacramento on May 24. The Bay Area’s first case was reported in San Francisco on June 3.
On Wednesday, Bay Area officials drew a slew of criticism against federal health officials for what they see as its slow approach in attacking the virus.
San Francisco officials say doses of JYNNEOS, one of two vaccines available to prevent infection, are running “extremely” low and have made an “urgent request” to the federal government. Last week, the city’s health department distributed more than 2,000 doses of the vaccine to city clinics and hospitals and requested an additional 35,000. SF General Hospital, where some of the first-come-first-served vaccines are available, is set to close after Wednesday and will remain closed for the rest of the week until more supplies run out.
City officials said they did not know when the next supply would be or how many doses would be given.
LGBTQ politicians in the region in particular are calling for action.
Assembly member Ivan Lowe, chairman of the state’s LGBT Legislative Caucus, said his community has a history with public health and recalled the federal government taking the fight for AIDS and HIV seriously in the 1980s.
“That’s why we take it very seriously,” Lowe said in an interview. “And we demand that our government respond accordingly.”
On Wednesday, State Sen. Scott Wiener in a statement Urged the federal government to provide additional doses “immediately”.
“Once we get past this emergency, we need to account for these failures – failures that put people’s lives and health at risk,” said Weiner, an ardent supporter of the area’s LGBTQ community. Advocate.
In Santa Clara County, health officials are providing JYNNEOS on an invitation-only basis due to short supply. Those who have tested positive, have confirmed symptoms or are at high risk are eligible. Health officials urge residents to contact their primary care provider if they suspect they have had monkeypox. The county did not immediately respond to an inquiry about how many vaccines they have distributed or a request to the federal government.
Epidemiologist Dr. John Swartzberg cited the lack of vaccines as another example of an inadequate public health infrastructure.
“The monkeypox response by the federal government, and in particular the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, is a reflection of what you get when you undermine decades of public health,” he said. “It’s not surprising but very disappointing. There is no one person or one institution to blame.”
For their part, the Biden administration announced in late June that 1.6 million doses of the vaccine would become available in the coming months. On July 11, approximately 150,000 doses were shipped nationwide from the Strategic National Stockpile.
Overall, Swartzberg said that monkeypox poses a much lower risk to the public than COVID. And, since it is a DNA virus, the chances of it mutating and suddenly becoming more transmitted or lethal like the RNA virus makeup of COVID.
But Swartzberg also said there is a chance the virus could eventually spread permanently among the community, or be endemic like the flu or HIV.
“In the 1990s, West Nile virus arrived in the United States,” he said. “It’s never been here before. And now, West Nile is endemic to the US in bird and foul populations. That’s what we’re going to see in monkeypox.”