Comment D.C. has more monkeypox cases per capita than any other state, prompting public health officials to launch an aggressive vaccination campaign aimed at covering the most at-risk communities. From Friday the health departments reported 122 positive cases in D.C., 44 in Virginia and 37 in Maryland, but D.C. public health officials say there are more people infected than the data shows because not everyone with symptoms gets tested. New York, California, Illinois and Florida lead the nation in reported cases, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with 489, 266, 174 and 154 cases, respectively. Although not considered a pandemic, a global outbreak of monkeypox has affected more than 60 countries, including the United States, where more than 1,800 cases have been reported since the first in mid-May in Massachusetts. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) — at a press conference Monday outside Whitman Walker Health, which specializes in LGBTQ and HIV care — said officials are working to get a vaccine out quickly and encouraged residents to pre-register for free appointment at PreventMonkeypox.dc.gov . Nearly 800,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine could be available in US by end of July The District has received about 8,300 doses, most of which arrived last week, and about 2,600 first doses of the two-dose regimen have been administered, he said. DC Health Director LaQuandra Nesbitt said Monday that the most affected people over 30 are people in the LGBTQ plus community, but stressed that the virus can infect anyone. “It’s important not to create a stigma at this time and to encourage people to be on the lookout for symptoms,” he told reporters on Monday. The CDC is allocating doses of Jynneos, the only vaccine approved specifically to prevent monkeypox, based on the number of confirmed cases of monkeypox and the size of the population of men who have sex with men who are HIV positive. DC was part of the initial tier of recipients and has received significantly more vaccines than neighboring states. The District expects to receive an additional 4,000 doses next week and is seeking partners, especially those serving the Black LGBTQ community, to host pop-up clinics, Nesbitt said. DC is often treated as a state for purposes of infection surveillance and federal funding, but even compared to cities, DC has among the highest rates of monkeypox cases. As with the coronavirus, the District’s entirely urban nature means the virus has a greater chance of spreading, while states have urban, suburban and rural areas. Patrick Ashley, senior deputy director at the D.C. Department of Health, said Friday that about 65 percent of people who tested positive are white and 21 percent are black. Additionally, a quarter identify as Hispanic. The District has not recorded any biologically female cases, he said. D.C. officials declined to say in which wards they are most prevalent to protect people’s privacy. Some local residents have been hospitalized for pain control, but no one has been hospitalized directly for complications from monkeypox, he said. “Monkey pox can be extremely painful, especially if there are lesions on the penis, a lot of swelling of the penis, and also in the anus, it can be significantly painful,” Ashley said. “This is not chicken pox.” He encouraged people to be vigilant in monitoring themselves and their sexual partners for any unusual skin conditions. “If they see something strange on their body whether it’s a rash or a lesion or something that just doesn’t look right, [it’s important] that they are talking to their provider,” he said. “People can be afraid to talk to their doctor about things in their bodies that could be monkey pox or something else. We want people to feel comfortable seeking care.” Monkeypox cases rise as WHO stops short of declaring global emergency District contact tracers had identified about 560 close contacts as of Friday, but the actual number is higher, Ashley said. Officials recognized early on in the global outbreak that because of the nature of the hardest-hit population — people with multiple partners and those with anonymous sex — it would be impossible to contact everyone who might be at risk. In response, DC designed the vaccination drive to blanket the community with protection. “Part of the reason we do extensive post-exposure prophylaxis is for that very reason,” Ashley said. “We know there are these exposures in the community, but we can’t pinpoint them and say you’re at risk.” A D.C. resident who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect his privacy said in an interview Friday that he had tested positive for monkeypox and was struggling with painful lesions on his face as well as psychological issues. “It seems like history is repeating itself,” he said. “For me it goes back to the early 90s and the AIDS epidemic. … Fast forward from then to now and we have this monkey pox thing. We were all caught off guard by this one.” As of Friday, 7,600 residents had pre-registered for the vaccine, Ashley said. Among those vaccinated, 99 percent are male, 99 percent are gay or bisexual, 76 percent are 25 to 39 years old and 76 percent are white, while 83 percent are non-Hispanic, he said. As appointments become available, pre-registered residents will receive an email invitation to make an appointment within 48 hours. About 3,000 appointments were opened Thursday, and by Friday more than 2,600 were booked, Ashley said. The vaccine is available in DC for District residents who are 18 years of age or older and are men who have sex with men and have had multiple or anonymous sex partners in the past 14 days. transgender women or non-binary people assigned male at birth who have sex with men. sex workers or staff in baths, saunas and sex clubs. Proof of residence is required. DC officials encourage people who don’t currently meet the strict eligibility criteria to pre-register anyway, because the eligibility criteria may change. Doctors treating monkeypox complain of ‘horrendous’ bureaucracy, obstacles As with the coronavirus, contact tracers track individuals as well as potential cases. For example, a bathhouse in Logan Circle, Crew Club DC, hosted a private event in early June that led to some contamination. The organizer, Mass Collab, emailed attendees about two weeks later to let them know that “a small number of known attendees” had tested positive or been contacted by a health department about a possible exposure. Mass Collab tweeted that private events will be postponed until at least September 21 to allow people to get vaccinated. When the events are repeated, full vaccination will be mandatory. “In terms of how our community is coping, the symptoms have been very painful and have been scary for everyone involved,” Mass Collab said in a statement. “It’s brand new to everyone in our community, so we’re all learning about its symptoms and its contagiousness as quickly as possible.” Outside the District, local public health agencies are preparing for another shipment of vaccine, but as of Friday they did not know how many doses or when they would receive them. In Maryland, the health department has received 682 doses and, in turn, is redistributing 200 doses to the three high-risk areas: Baltimore City and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, spokesman Chase Cook said. In Virginia, the health department received 3,925 doses and 70 doses were administered as of Friday, said Lori Forlano, deputy director of the office of epidemiology. Health departments in Northern Virginia, where most of the state’s cases are concentrated, have already received some doses, he said. “The numbers are increasing, but it’s hard to say what the trajectory will be,” he said.
