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LOS ANGELES | The AIDS Healthcare Foundation hosted a Zoom teleconference July 14 criticizing the federal and California governments’ response to monkeypox outbreaks and proposed a plan for the LA County Department of Public Health to improve its containment efforts.
The AHF’s plan is composed of 6 points: twice weekly public briefings, warnings to the gay and bisexual male population online and in print, monkeypox notices in commercial sex venues and on hookup apps, federal emergency vaccine supply, cooperation with community partners on treatment efforts, and university studies on monkeypox.
During today’s press briefing, AHF President Michael Weinstein said that “regardless of what term is used by WHO, monkeypox is a pandemic …the effort at every level of government is failing to address it.”
Weinstein argued that the current monkeypox spread is part of the country’s larger failure to prevent and treat STIs, and that many individuals who test positive for monkeypox also test positive for other STIs.
“The question that I keep coming back to is when will we ever learn that a small investment in prevention and surveillance is worth a pound of cure?” Weinstein said. “We need to put the public back in public health.”
Dr. Stuart Burstin, AHF’s Interim National Director of Infectious Diseases, said that an aggressive containment strategy is especially important right now, since monkeypox cases are starting to show exponential growth. Currently, California leads the United States in monkeypox infections, with 161 reported cases out of the country’s 1,053 total.
The L.A. County Department of Public Health classifies monkeypox as a typically “mild, self-limiting disease,” in accordance with the CDC’s clinical description of the virus, which can cause flu-like symptoms and lesions/rash. However, Matt Ford, an LA-based actor and writer who spoke at the AHF press conference, said that his experience of contracting monkeypox resulted in over 3 weeks of isolation and pain so severe he needed narcotic painkillers to sleep.
When asked about his reaction to monkeypox being classified as a “mild” disease, Ford said, “That was not my experience and the experience of a lot of people, but it’s different for everyone. I know some people who had mild cases, but I do not believe that is the majority of people who have it.”
Although monkeypox can be spread through any instance of close, skin-to-skin contact with an infected person, most cases are occurring among gay and bisexual men, and the AHF highlighted the need for university studies into why this population has been particularly affected.
During the conference, Weinstein quoted Republican Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) (via The Hill)
“The administration has the tools and authorities necessary to combat these threats (from monkeypox). Your failures to act are a threat to public health, and especially for gay and bisexual men who are at highest risk.” wrote Burr. “The government failed this population at the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, we should not fail them again.”
The Hill also noted: “Burr, who sits on the Senate Committee on Health, Education., Labor and Pensions, criticized the absence of a clear research plan to better understand monkeypox as well as what he perceived to be a lack of communication coming from federal public health officials.”
The six-point monkeypox response plan that AHF crafted and is urging County officials to adopt and implement grew out of frustration of health advocates over the lack of clear communication and action by L.A. County DPH on the global monkeypox outbreak, which will hit its two-month mark of presence in the U.S. this weekend.
As of July 13, the US has reported 1,053 cases across 42 states and Washington DC. California is experiencing the most cases—161 infections, or 15%—followed by New York, Illinois, DC, and Florida. LA County makes up 70 of those 161 cases. These cases are primarily among an already stigmatized population.
“Where are Governor Newsom, Senator Padilla, Mayor Garcetti and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra on the monkeypox outbreak, which is disproportionately affecting historically marginalized populations–gay men and men who have sex with men?” said AHF’s Weinstein.
AHF also supported other health advocates and elected officials for speaking out on the lack of available vaccines and the government’s shortcomings on monkeypox response.
California State Senator Scott Wiener released a statement yesterday sharply criticizing the federal government:
“We need to be very clear where the responsibility lies for this completely avoidable situation: the federal government. As far back as 2010, public health experts were warning that it was inevitable that monkeypox would spread beyond West Africa. And in 2019, the FDA approved a safe and effective monkeypox vaccine. Yet, the United States government ordered a mere 56,000 vaccine doses (enough for 28,000 people) for the national vaccine stockpile and failed to order the millions of doses that should have been ordered in preparation for an inevitable outbreak. … We need an enormous amount of additional vaccine doses, and we need it immediately. The federal government’s failures are threatening to deeply harm our community. Once we move past this emergency, we need accountability for these failures — failures that put people’s lives and health in jeopardy.”
