Leaders in New York state seem slow to learn that rushing to “declare a state of emergency” and imposing restrictions can have a devastating impact on society. Over the weekend, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency over monkeypox, an almost always nonfatal disease impacting 0.013 percent of New York City residents.
Adams announced that his declaration would increase the city’s efforts “to educate, vaccinate, test, and treat as many New Yorkers as possible and ensure a whole-of-government response to this outbreak.”
Some have suggested that the immediate push to test and vaccinate for a mysterious and nonfatal disease is an extension of Democrat-led policies designed to restrict individual freedoms.
Fox News noted that “Adams’ state of emergency will allow him to suspend local laws and implement new health rules.”
Hochul recently declared a state disaster emergency over monkeypox. The New York state health department, which mismanaged the COVID pandemic by imposing severe restrictions and continues to advise wearing masks in public, has called monkeypox an “imminent threat to public health.”
The New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, who mandated masks for toddlers during the pandemic, said: “as many as 150,000 city residents could be at risk of infection.” He did not state that the vast majority of cases have been in young men who are gay, bis*xual or have s*x with men, which likely puts his figure of 150,000 in dispute.
The World Health Organization (WHO), also mired in controversy concerning the COVID pandemic, declared monkeypox “a global health emergency on July 23.”
The WHO reports 22,000 monkeypox cases in nearly 80 countries since May with approximately 75 suspected deaths in Nigeria and Congo.
The first reported death attributed to monkeypox outside Africa came Saturday when both Spain and Brazil reported deaths linked to monkeypox. What is not clear is if reporting shows death with monkeypox or death from monkeypox.
Though the virus spreads primarily among men who have s*x with men, health officials underscore that the virus can infect anyone.
Fox News reports that the type of monkeypox virus reported in the U.S. is rarely fatal, and people usually recover within weeks.
