California declare state of emergency to help fight monkeypox outbreak

Gavin Newsom, the governor of California yesterday declared a state of emergency over the spreading monkeypox outbreak in the state.

This comes after 5,800 cases were reported in the United States with 800 cases confirmed in California. This makes this state the third in the USA to issue a statewide declaration in relation to the outbreak.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

According to Newson, the reason for declaring the emergency is in order to boost the state’s vaccination efforts as the virus spreads across the nation. This is because the demand for the vaccines has overtaken supply as infections rise, making the medical personnel struggle to keep up with the increasing population seeking monkeypox shots.

The declaration allows California’s emergency medical services personnel to administer approved monkeypox vaccines, increasing the number of people able to immunise the locals against the virus even during the vaccine shortage.

“California is working urgently across all levels of government to slow the spread of monkeypox, leveraging our robust testing, contact tracing and community partnerships strengthened during the pandemic to ensure that those most at risk are our focus for vaccines, treatment and outreach,” said Newsom in a news release.

The Governor further stated that California had received more than 61,000 vaccine doses and distributed more than 25,000.

On the report of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, monkeypox is a poxvirus, related to smallpox, that usually causes pimple- or blister-like lesions, as well as flu-like symptoms like fever, headaches, muscle aches, chills and respiratory symptoms.

The virus can spread to anyone through close mostly skin-to-skin contact with an infected person.

Infected animals can spread monkeypox virus to people, and it is possible for people infected with the virus to spread it to animals through close contact.