The Mayor London Breed, reported that according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health, the city government has declared a state of emergency for monkeypox, which will go into effect starting Monday, August 1, which will allow preparations and dedicate resources to prevent the spread.
As of Thursday, there were 261 diagnosed cases of monkeypox in San Francisco, a figure that places it as one of the epicenters of the disease in the country, as it has more cases than most states.
While this virus affects everyone equally, there is currently a higher risk of exposure in the LGBTQ+ community, which accounts for nearly 90 percent of cases in San Francisco.
The Latino community, meanwhile, accounts for 30 percent of cases, despite making up only 15 percent of the city's population.
While there is a known shortage of monkeypox vaccines across the country, the mayor said the push will continue to be made to obtain them more quickly so they can be distributed efficiently in San Francisco, which suffers disproportionately from cases.
The Local Emergency declaration, he said, will allow for the mobilization of city resources, accelerate emergency planning, streamline staffing, coordinate agencies across the city, allow for future reimbursement from state and federal governments, and raise awareness throughout San Francisco about how everyone can stop the spread of this disease in the community.
Breed also noted that the declaration of a local emergency does NOT mean the implementation of behavioral restrictions or other measures as was done with COVID-19.
“It’s about having the resources and ability to move quickly to implement them. During COVID, we used our local declaration to open emergency vaccination sites, deploy workers to immediate needs, enter into emergency contracts, and nimbly move government bureaucracy to confront the virus. These are the types of actions that will allow us to carry out this Local Emergency,” the official stressed in a statement.
This local emergency goes into effect on August 1 and must be adopted by the Board of Supervisors within a week, Breed explained.
The Board of Supervisors, meanwhile, agreed to call an emergency meeting next week to consider the declaration, "I'm sure you understand the urgency of this matter," the mayor said.
To follow the city's updates on vaccines and other developments, interested parties can access the website at https://sf.gov/information/monkeypox.
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A few weeks ago, the San Francisco Department of Public Health requested 35,000 vaccines to begin reaching people most at risk of contracting the virus.
However, in the past three weeks, only a third of that request has been received. “That is not enough and the reality is that we are going to need much more than 35,000 vaccines to protect our LGBTQ+ community and stop the spread of this virus,” Breed said.
He explained that this is not only to protect the health of citizens, but also to stop the spread to other communities. “Last week, I wrote a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra requesting more support. Since then, our case count has nearly doubled,” he said.
San Francisco reported its first case of monkeypox on June 3, and cases have continued to rise since then.
The risk to the general population from this virus is thought to be low, as it is not an airborne disease like COVID. However, this is the first time it has spread to so many countries at once, and increasing case rates are being seen in San Francisco.
Last weekend, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease a Global Health Emergency.
"The most critical need right now is more vaccines." The federal government distributes the vaccine to state health departments, and then the California Department of Public Health allocates vaccines to counties, such as San Francisco.
“We have no control over the amount of vaccines we receive. San Francisco needs more support and we need more action. That is why we are declaring a Local Emergency,” said London Breed.
“San Francisco has proven during COVID that early action is essential to protecting public health. We are ready to do whatever it takes to protect our communities, especially those most at risk from this virus,” he said.
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