New York Governor Kathy Hocole declared a state of emergency on Friday evening due to the continued spread of monkey pox.
This comes a day after the New York State Commissioner of Health declared monkey pox an "imminent threat to public health."
"I have declared a state of emergency in the state to strengthen our ongoing efforts to confront the outbreak of chickenpox," Hokol said in a statement, A faster response and better vaccination distribution would result from the emergency declaration, it was added.
Noting that the state has become the largest emerging epicentre of the virus outbreak
Hokol said:
- In this country, the state of has more than one in four monkey pox virus cases,
- New York, and our response will require the employment of every weapon at our disposal.
- New York recorded most cases of the virus nationwide (1,345)
- followed by California (799), according to CDC data updated Friday.
Authorities in the Californian city of San Francisco also declared a state of emergency.
noting that 261 people had been confirmed or potentially infected with monkey chickens as of Wednesday.
According to Hokol's statement, the state of emergency allows staff of ambulance services, pharmacists, midwives, physicians and nurses certified to administer vaccines.
According to Politico, the administration of US President Joe Biden will announce in the coming days the pox of apes as a public health emergency.
Finding the polio-causing virus in New York's wastewater
Sources in New York City reported that the polio virus was found in wastewater, indicating the return of the disease, which has disappeared for decades, to quietly spread among unvaccinated people.
Health authorities in the city, New York state and the federal government said the presence of polio virus in the city's wastewater suggested that the virus could spread locally.
The authorities urged parents to vaccinate their children against the potentially deadly disease, and New York City Health Commissioner Dr.
Ashwin Vassan said:
- "New Yorkers are at significant risk, but polio vaccination is a relatively simple line of defence."
- As polio spreads in our communities, there is nothing more important than vaccinating our children to protect them from this virus
- If you are an unvaccinated adult or imperfectly vaccinated Please choose to get the vaccine now
- polio is completely preventable and it must be a call to action again for all of us. "
The Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said
Dr. José R.
"This is a matter of concern. We know that polio is silently spreading, and there are probably many people with polio."
New York City is forced to confront polio as city health officials struggle to vaccinate vulnerable populations against monkey pox and adapt to changing COVID-19 guidelines.
Mayor Eric Adams said on CNN:
We are coordinating and responding to threats as they occur in front of us, and we are prepared to handle them with assistance from the capital. We are dealing with a trifecta; COVID is still here frequently; polio; we have found polio in our wastewater; and the monkey pox crisis is still ongoing. But the team is there.
The announcement of the discovery of the polio virus in New York City comes shortly after British health authorities announced evidence of the spread of the virus in London but found no cases in humans, and children aged 1 to 9 in London are eligible for enhanced doses of the polio vaccine.
A person has been paralysed for weeks by polio in Rockland County, upstate New York.
- Samples of sewage collected in June were found in both Rockland and neighboring Orange County to contain the virus.
- The virus was discovered in sewage samples taken in New York City, according to CDC experts.
- did not contain sufficient genetic material to determine whether it was related tothe Rockland County patient.
Most polio sufferers show no symptoms, but they can still transmit the virus to others for days or weeks, and vaccination provides strong protection.
According to officials, based on past outbreaks, hundreds of people in the state are likely to have contracted polio and do not know it.
Polio was once one of the country's most terrifying diseases, with the annual outbreak causing thousands of cases of paralysis, often affecting children.
Experts noted that the polio vaccine, administered in childhood, must have fairly long-term protection.