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Los Angeles records 22 monkeypox cases after Pride events as health officials say outbreak is running rampant among gay community.
‘Anyone can get and spread monkeypox, but some of the recent cases identified have been among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men who attended large events where the exposure to monkeypox may have occurred,’ said Los Angeles Department of Public Health in a statement.
The warning comes after a month of Pride celebrations in the city that included Pride in the Park on June 11, a concert that attracted over 20,000 people and included a performance from Christina Aguilera as well as the city’s parade which occurred on June 12.
According to the Los Angeles Times, thousands of people lined the city’s streets to celebrate the return of the parade following a two-year hiatus due to Covid-19.
As of June 2, there were just three cases of monkeypox in all of California, NBC News said at the time.
There are now 51 reported monkeypox cases in California and 199 cases nationwide, according to the CDC.
LA is now offering the JYNNEOS vaccine to ‘individuals at a higher risk of monkeypox.’
JYNNEOS is a vaccine used to treat smallpox and monkeypox that was first approved for use in the US by the Federal Drug Administration in 2019.
New York City began a rollout of the vaccine in preparation for their Pride celebrations this past Thursday. There are 35 reported cases in New York state.
Most early cases in the US were in people who had just returned from traveling abroad. But the disease has spread quickly, especially among gay men.
Worldwide, health officials have already warned that there is a spike in monkeypox cases in male gay and bisexual communities.
Monkeypox — native to West Africa — has now been detected more than 3,000 times across 40 countries where it is not typically found this year.
The above map shows the spread of monkeypox across the U.S. The virus has now been detected in 24 states. Previously, New York was the epicenter of the outbreak but it has now been surpassed by California
Revelers in Los Angeles enjoying the Pride parade earlier in June 2022. Following the celebration, health officials warned that recent cases in the city ‘identified have been among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men who attended large events’
Similar to New York City, the city of Los Angeles is offering the JYNNEOS vaccine to ‘individuals at a higher risk of monkeypox’
The theme of Los Angeles’ Pride parade this year was ‘Love Your Pride’
The tropical disease is primarily spread through physical contact with infectious rashes, but in rare cases it can also be transmitted through ‘sustained’ face-to-face contact.
Many patients have rashes on their genital area and anus as a first warning sign, before the disease spreads to the rest of the body.
It can take up to four weeks to get better from the disease, with most cases being mild and clearing up on their own.
Someone remains infectious until their rashes have scabbed over and eventually fallen off.
In May 2022, Andy Seale, a strategies adviser with the World Health Organization, was quoted as saying that it’s important for people to celebrate Pride events as normal.
He said: ‘It’s important that people who want to go out and celebrate gay pride, LGBTQ+ pride, to continue to go and plan to so.’
Seale also said: ‘Given that this is not a gay disease, the transmission routes are common to everybody. The advice is pretty much the same for all people.’
Also in May 2022, Dr. David Heymann, who formerly headed WHO’s emergencies department, told The Associated Press that the leading theory to explain the spread of the disease was sexual transmission at raves held in Spain and Belgium.
‘We know monkeypox can spread when there is close contact with the lesions of someone who is infected, and it looks like sexual contact has now amplified that transmission,’ said Heymann.
Monkeypox does not spread easily from person-to-person and requires the exchange of bodily fluids or prolonged exposure to someone who already has the virus
There have been no deaths recorded amid the 2022 outbreak of monkeypox in Europe and the US
Just a few days before Pride events kicked off in New York City, ‘at risk’ gay and bisexual men were offered the vaccine
This week, WHO stopped short of declaring Monkeypox a global health emergency but did say that the situation would be reviewed again next month.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was deeply concerned about the outbreak.
‘I am deeply concerned about the monkeypox outbreak, this is clearly an evolving health threat that my colleagues and I in the WHO Secretariat are following extremely closely,’ Tedros said.
The ‘global emergency’ label currently only applies to the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing efforts to eradicate polio, and the U.N. agency has stepped back from applying it to the monkeypox outbreak after advice from a meeting of international experts.
New York City health chiefs were blasted for their ‘last minute’ roll out of monkeypox vaccines just two days before the city’s Pride weekend Friday — as scores of walk-ins were turned away on the second day of inoculations.
Last Thursday, the city became the first in the U.S. to start offering the jab to the most ‘at risk’ gay or bisexual men.
But within three hours of launching the drive it was forced to suspend walk-ins due to ‘high demand’, and all appointments were booked solid until Monday.
At least 100 men queued for the jab last Thursday morning, with many not having bookings arriving up to two hours before the clinic opened. But all walk-ins were turned away and told to check online for new slots.
Chris LeBron, a Democrat candidate for the New York State Assembly, slammed the ‘pop-up’ inoculation and slammed the city’s health commissioner Dr Ashwin Vasan for failing to turn up to monitor the vaccinations.
Men waiting to get inoculated today said it was ‘ridiculous’ that only 1,000 doses were available in a city of eight million. Others slammed health officials for giving ‘contradictory’ information on how to get jabbed.
Many of those who got the vaccine today expressed their relief, saying they would now be able to enjoy the Pride weekend safely — which is expected to draw crowds numbering more than two million. One man even left the clinic telling a friend, ‘we can make out tonight!’
No deaths have been recorded amid the 2022 outbreak, but health officials warn it could spill over into more vulnerable populations if the outbreak is not contained.
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