Governors Declare State of Emergency in Response to Monkeypox Outbreaks
Governors in California, Illinois and New York have declared a state of emergency due to monkeypox outbreaks. As of Wednesday, 826 cases have been identified in California, 533 in Illinois, and 1,617 cases in New York.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on Aug. 1, and will be expanding vaccination efforts after already distributing more than 25,000 vaccine doses. The state has received more than 61,000 doses and expanded testing capacity to more than 1,000 per week as of July 28.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker declared a state of emergency on Aug. 1, and will also expand vaccine and testing capacities to reach communities most impacted.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency on July 29, and issued an executive order to secure more vaccines, test and distribute the latest information and resources to New Yorkers. So far, the state has secured 110,000 additional vaccine doses, resulting in a total of 170,000 doses.
Globally, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency on July 23.
Since mid-May, the White House has tried to reduce outbreaks across the country by dramatically scaling up procurement production of vaccines, expanding access to testing, expanding access to treatment and reaching out to communities most impacted by the virus.
White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Ashish Jha said during a press briefing last week that the White House has secured nearly 300,000 vaccines, and nearly 800,000 additional doses will be shipped across the country once approved.
“When the first case of monkeypox was confirmed, we had capacity to do 6,000 tests per week … and now have 80,000 tests per week,” said Jha.
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