Another Epidemic After a Pandemic
Monkeypox Cases Are Rapidly Rising, but Health Officials Remain Optimistic
With COVID precautions calming down, monkeypox outbreaks are the new concern.
On Aug. 6, Leon County reported the first monkeypox case in Tallahassee. With more than 1,500 confirmed cases, Florida now has the third most confirmed cases of monkeypox in the United States. A significant proportion of that is found in Central Florida. According to the Florida Department of Health, the estimated number of cases was 1,266 in 28 counties a week ago. In just a week, as of Aug. 22, the number rose by 322 to 1,588. The number of cases, particularly in Florida, is growing exponentially.
“Hearing that Florida has the third most confirmed monkeypox cases is surprising,” sophomore Emily Hawken said. “I personally feel that the Maclay community has put the COVID years in the past, but hearing that a new sickness might mean we go into another time similar to COVID, which is scary.”
Monkeypox is a viral infection that originated from animals. It spreads between humans through close contact with body fluids, skin lesions, contaminated materials and more. Symptoms include high fever, extreme headache, swelling of lymph nodes and rashes. The incubation period, or the interval from infection to display of symptoms, is often a one week to two week period.
Although not widely available, monkeypox vaccines do exist. The CDC stated that since monkeypox and smallpox viruses are very similar, and smallpox vaccines may be used to help protect against monkeypox infections. The vaccines that are available in the US are JYNNEOS and ACAM2000. However, they are currently only given to certain groups of people that are at high risk of infection.
“I think people should be finding out about the vaccine and getting it because you have significant others that you spend a lot of time with or family members,” math teacher John Gussaroff said.
One of the common misconceptions surrounding the monkeypox virus is that it is spread mainly through male adults. However, that cannot be proven entirely true. Florida’s first pediatric case is confirmed in a child not even four years old. There are a total of nine confirmed pediatric cases in Florida. Younger populations are a lot less likely to contract the virus than the older group, but doctors say that symptoms can be worse in children and may possibly lead to other infections like pneumonia and encephalitis.
Still, the overall chances of contracting the virus is relatively low. Compared to COVID-19, the numbers of cases and mutations of monkeypox are significantly lower. Monkeypox virus is also less contagious than COVID-19 since it is not transmitted through air but physical contact. For multiple reasons, the general public’s reaction to monkeypox is not as serious as it was to COVID-19.
“I am less worried than I was with COVID especially since monkeypox doesn’t have any mutations yet,” sophomore Diya Patel said.
Nevertheless, some express that people need to be more aware of the current situation and learn something from the past COVID-19 pandemic.
“I don’t think it’s a big concern that there’s going to be a wide spread like there was with COVID, but I think it’s something we could pay a little more attention to,” Gussaroff said.
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