China News Agency, New York, July 30. Due to the continued spread of the monkeypox epidemic, New York City officials in the United States declared the city to enter a state of public health emergency on the 30th to intensify actions and mobilize more resources to respond.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and City Surgeon General Ashwin Vassan announced the decision in a joint statement on the same day.
The statement said that after entering a state of public health emergency, the city health department will be able to issue emergency orders and adjust health provisions to better take measures to slow the spread of the epidemic.
Currently, New York City is the "epicenter" of the monkeypox epidemic in the United States, and about 150,000 New Yorkers may be at risk of exposure to monkeypox.
"We will ensure access to more monkeypox vaccines" and "urgency, action and resources must be used to respond to this outbreak."
The next batch of monkeypox vaccines the federal government plans to distribute to New York City is 80,000 doses, which is not enough to meet the city's vaccination needs, the city's health officials said, according to The New York Times.
Previously, when the city released monkeypox vaccine reservations online, it was all snatched up in a short period of time.
In addition to New York City, New York State is also facing the same problem.
In order to allow more people to be vaccinated against monkeypox, on the 29th, New York Governor Cathy Hochuer has declared a state of disaster emergency in the state.
"I'm declaring a state of disaster emergency in New York State to intensify existing efforts to respond to the monkeypox outbreak," Hozul said that night. "This executive order allows us to respond faster and enables health care professionals to take further steps to help More New Yorkers get vaccinated."
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of the 29th, a total of 5,189 confirmed cases of monkeypox have been reported in the United States, of which New York State has the most confirmed cases at 1,345, accounting for about a quarter of the total confirmed cases in the United States.
New York City has reported 1,289 confirmed cases of monkeypox so far this year, according to the New York City Department of Health.
The World Health Organization declared on the 23rd that the monkeypox epidemic has constituted a "public health emergency of international concern".
This is the organization's highest-level alert for a global public health emergency.
According to the organization's data, more than 70 countries and regions around the world have reported more than 22,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox this year, and the virus is spreading in many countries that have not previously reported monkeypox cases. Among them, countries in Europe and the Americas have reported the largest number of cases. And most cases are men who have sex with men.
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