San Francisco ends monkeypox state of emergency – KALW

Officials said on Oct. 20 that the state of emergency for MPX would be lifted by Halloween with cases dropping to less than one per day.

The emergency declaration, which went into effect Aug. 1, came amid a rise in infections that peaked with 143 new MPX cases in San Francisco on the week starting July 24, according to city public health officials.

The city ramped up its vaccinations against MPX to stop the spread of the virus, with more than 27,000 San Franciscans now having received the Jynneos vaccine.

On Monday, State Senator Scott Wiener, of San Francisco, hailed the dramatic drop in cases and took credit for spearheading the emergency budget allocation of 41-and-a-half million dollars to fight the problem.

While many cases have been confirmed among men who identify as gay or bisexual, public health officials have stressed that the virus is not exclusive to men who have sex with men, and anyone can contract monkeypox regardless of their sexual orientation.

In its announcement about the ending of the emergency declaration, the San Francisco Department of Public Health said the declaration QUOTE “served its purpose to reflect the immediate urgency of the MPX threat to the health of those most affected in the gay, bisexual and trans communities. It also gave public health officials tools, such as collection of critical data, needed to respond effectively.”