CHICAGO (CBS) — Illinois surpassed 1,000 cases of monkeypox on Friday, joining five other states in reaching the milestone since the outbreak began in the United States in May.
As of Friday afternoon, Illinois had 1,005 cases of monkeypox, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. That’s more cases of monkeypox than Portugal, which has 810 cases, or Italy, which has 714 on Friday morning, according to World Health data. Organization.
But even when the U. S. While the U. S. reached 16,926 instances, the highest in the world, Chicago saw the rate of new instances decline, with only 113 new instances last week, to a peak last July, when there were only about 141 new instances in a week. , as known to the Chicago Department of Public Health.
“[It’s] too early to say that things seem really smart, but in fact there are signs that times are slowing down,” Dr. Brown said Tuesday. Allison Arwady, Chicago’s public fitness commissioner, in a Facebook live stream. “The smart thing is that we don’t see the potentially exponential expansion that we were seeing at the beginning. So it’s reassuring. “
Chicago has 807 instances as of Friday morning and accounts for more than 80 percent of instances in the state. Other cities such as New York and Los Angeles have also noticed modest declines in new cases. New York, California, Florida, Texas and Georgia have more than 1000 reported cases of monkeypox.
“Illinois is the fifth largest state and we are the sixth largest in terms of MPV cases. So, it’s not unforeseen there,” Arwady said.
Leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also expressed cautious optimism about the downward trend of monkeypox in Chicago.
“Some jurisdictions (New York, Chicago, San Francisco) are starting to notice that they’re starting to see a downward trend,” said Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC.
Meanwhile, Dr. Rebecca Smith of the University of Illinois told Marissa Perlman of CBS 2 that the higher total number of cases in the state may be a smart thing to do.
“Finding more instances can be a smart thing to do because it means we locate other people, isolate them and put them in treatment,” Smith said.
The slowdown in cases comes just about 3 weeks after Chicago hosted Market Days, the annual LGBT street festival, which drew crowds of more than 100,000 people, plus travelers from other states and countries.
Organizers and city officials softened considerations about holding the festival as monkeypox cases spiked in Chicago, and held a press conference before the event began.
Market Days president Mark Liberson at the press conference along with the network’s fitness organizers, and told reporters they won’t catch the virus at a street fair.
“One of the things [Arwady] talked about protecting going to a festival. And she was right,” Liberson said.
He credited the vaccination efforts of the fitness arm and network partners for helping cases.
“The bottom line is that other people were aware of the main focus of transmission and acted on their own,” Liberson said. “I hope more people will benefit from vaccination right now. “
Concerns about the event stem from Chicago’s earlier role in the ape pox outbreak in the United States, after several cases were linked to the Mr. Leather International Conference (IML) in late May. Gov. JB Pritzker has still declared a public health emergency. last month, when there was almost a part of the number of instances.
The outbreak has drawn parallels with those seen with COVID-19.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Arwady were criticized for allowing Lollapalooza to take place last year amid major COVID-19 cases. Chicago would see 203 cases similar to this event.
Arwady was first diagnosed with COVID-19 on Thursday.
Usa. The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded an average of nearly 337 new cases of monkeypox on Wednesday, up from a peak of 444 cases on Aug. 10, according to a study of CBS 2 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Illinois, there were 135 cases the week of August 21, to a high of 189 cases the week of August 7, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Howard Brown Health, a nonprofit LGBTQ fitness and social services provider, diagnosed 36 of all Illinois cases.
“In the first 10 weeks of tracking our knowledge, we saw a backlog in our cases. And in fact, over the last few weeks, we noticed a reduction in the number of positives and in the percentage of positives,” Laura said. Rusie, howard Brown’s director of data, evaluation and epidemiology. “So even though only two weeks, it’s hard to say that this is necessarily a trend that will continue, but it’s promising data that we may see a reduction in incidents. “. “
Rusie said that while Chicago is seeing a minimum in ape pox cases, Chicagoans don’t lose sight of other people who are not yet represented in the data.
“We want to make sure that testing and vaccines are equitable,” he said.
The administration of the JYNNEOS vaccine is limited to men who have sex with men.
The U. S. Food and Drug AdministrationThe U. S. Department of Homeland Security has issued an emergency use authorization, which allows the vaccine to be administered by intradermal injection. This increases the doses to five doses per vial.
Chicago gained more than 38,000 doses and 12,000 will arrive in the coming weeks, according to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services’ allocation knowledge. USA As of Wednesday, about 25,500 doses had been administered to Chicago residents, according to a CRPD spokesperson.
The IDPH has issued a recommendation to schools on how to monitor for possible cases of monkeypox, amid considerations about the possibility of spreading the virus to young people. Three young men in Georgia were diagnosed with monkeypox this week, according to CBS46.
Nationwide, 17 cases of monkeypox have been reported in children 15 and younger, according to data recently released by the CDC.
According to CRPD data, no cases of monkeypox have been reported in other people under the age of 18 in Chicago. The virus can be transmitted through direct contact with the infectious rash, scabs, or body fluids, as well as through intimate contact such as hugs and sex.
Public health officials had to string a needle into the messenger for weeks to increase the option of catching it through touch compared to the maximum common transmission that occurs with sex, without stigmatizing men who have sex with men.
So far, the virus has remained more commonly in men, with more than 90% of Chicago cases in men, adding trans men. About 75% of the cases concerned other people who were known as gay, lesbian or bisexual, according to CRPD data.
“We heard that meeting with other people online is one of the biggest threat points reported by other people who are diagnosed with MPV, so they’re Grindr, Tinder, Scruff,” Arwady said, referring to dating apps.
In addition to vaccines, gay men have drastically replaced their habit of the virus by having less sex, according to a CDC survey of gay and bisexual men released this week. About a portion of respondents reduced the number of sexual partners and dating, as well as the gender of those who met on dating apps.
“I need to thank the other people who were vaccinated, I need to thank the other people who were a little more careful with sexual contact and who were aware,” Arwady said.
She said the city still has work to do to vaccinate Latinos and blacks in Chicago.
“About 31% of our instances were among Chicago Latinos. By the middle of last week, about 17 percent [of the vaccines] had gone to Chicago Latinos,” Arwady said. “About 21 percent of our instances have been in chicago blacks, still about 12 percent of the vaccines. So we made additional efforts. “
The CDC also said it’s now about equity: offering tests and vaccines to Black and Latino communities. The federal government has been criticized for what some have described as unclear messages and vaccine shortages.
The CDC now claims that the source of vaccines is increasing.
“We’re going to see on a global scale that we can take a turn,” Walensky said.
On Friday, the city hosted an ape smallpox vaccination event in Austin and on Saturday will host two more at Wilbur Wright College and Richard J. Daley College.