A Long Beach kid gets monkeypox. LA County declares state of emergency

A Long Beach child has contracted monkeypox, health officials said hours after Los Angeles County leaders declared a regional emergency amid the spread of the disease.

“While the news of pediatric cases may sound alarm bells, monkeypox is still rare, much less contagious than COVID-19 and other common childhood illnesses, and rarely dangerous. Remember not,” said Long Beach publication Tuesday.

long beach kid 2nd in California monkeypox and Fifth known pediatric case in the United States

Health officials in Long Beach, who said they were awaiting additional tests from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm the infection, added that the child had symptoms but has since recovered. confirmed that the child’s infection was family related, but declined to disclose any further information.

Earlier in the day, LA County Board of Supervisors Chairman Holly J. Mitchell introduced the declaration A state of emergency has been declared for the region due to the increasing number of monkeypox cases. The action, which was unanimously ratified by the board, is an effort to strengthen the county’s response to the outbreak.california the day before declared a state of emergency due to virus.

“This is a serious health issue that deserves support and immediate action,” Mitchell said. “Declaring a local emergency is to help our county do everything we can to stay ahead of this virus.”

Monkeypox cases in Los Angeles County rose to 423 on Tuesday, up more than 80% from the previous week, according to the WHO. county health department count of possible confirmed cases. The majority of cases have been confirmed in men who identify as part of the LGBTQ community, according to county data.

in Long Beach, 20 confirmed or probable casesand Pasadena is its first four cases Tuesday. Because the two cities have their own public health departments, they report cases separately from Los Angeles County.

LA County Public Health Director Barbara Feller said the state and local emergency declarations, as well as the new shipment of 19,000 additional vaccines the county received over the weekend, have helped her agency better respond to the virus. Health officials and LGBTQ activists have voiced their concerns for weeks. number of vaccines availablelimited access to immunization and post-exposure vaccination.

But Ferrer said the state of emergency “makes a difference because it gives us easier access to some of the resources we need.”

“This will give us more flexibility in using staff from other departments to help with the response,” she said, adding that this will help track contracts, educate and outreach, and distribute vaccines. She added that it was a particularly important move in

Outbreaks in California, and around the world, continue to disproportionately affect men who have sex with men, transgender people, and nonbinary people, but the Anyone can catch the virus through fabric. virus.

San Diego also declared a regional emergency for the virus on Tuesday, raising the number of confirmed and suspected cases to nearly 50.

However, Los Angeles County and San Francisco lead the state by far, with nearly two-thirds of California’s over 1,100 cases. San Francisco declared a state of emergency last week For monkeypox, there have been more than 380 cases as of Monday.

Ferrer said Tuesday that the federal government recently allocated an additional 48,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine to LA County. His latest 19,000 doses — about the same as the previous total the county received — allowed the county to expand vaccine eligibility, Resume online registration process.

old group Already qualified for the shot — including those exposed to the virus — are still eligible, public health officials said, but eligibility is now limited to gay or bisexual men who have had multiple or anonymous sex partners in the past two weeks or It has been expanded and simplified to transgender persons. Users only need to self-certify that they meet these requirements through online registration.

Those eligible for vaccination can also call 211 to find and register for vaccinations, officials said. You can also contact your local clinic or health care provider to see if they have been designated as a vaccination site.

The county also announced that a new vaccine clinic will open in West Hollywood on Wednesday. I was looking for it.

Ferrer said it’s not clear when the remaining 29,000 doses will arrive in LA County, but she hopes it will be this month. did.

“Even if you took all those high-risk people, you wouldn’t have enough for everyone in that group,” Ferrer said. She said monkeypox is a “similar challenge” to the early days of her COVID-19 pandemic, as supplies of vaccines and tests are in short supply.

“It’s going to be difficult to do what we all want to do, which is to really make sure that we can actually eradicate the continued transmission of monkeypox in the United States,” Ferrer said. I don’t think it is possible.”