U.S. Preparing To Declare Monkeypox A Public Health Emergency

As the monkeypox virus continues to spread at an alarming rate across the U.S., the Biden administration is expected to declare monkeypox a public health emergency within days.

#BREAKING: U.S. preparing to declare public health emergency for monkeypox after CDC announced daily record of 1,048 confirmed cases – Politicohttps://t.co/xfL66x7p7Y

— I.E.N. (@BreakingIEN) July 28, 2022

From Politico:

The declaration, which is made by the Department of Health and Human Services, would follow a similar decision made last weekend by the World Health Organization.

By designating the outbreak an emergency, HHS could then take a slew of actions, including accessing new money and appointing new personnel, according to the law that dictates how and when the federal government can declare such an emergency.

Biden officials have for days debated whether to declare monkeypox a public health emergency as health officials in the U.S. and at the WHO this week said the risk to the general population is low. HHS has declared several public health emergencies in recent years, including Covid-19 and the opioid crisis.

The World Health Organization declared monkeypox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern five days ago. According to the CDC, there are (at this writing) 4,639 reported cases in the U.S. Here’s the latest graph following the spread of the virus via the CDC.