According to the data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on August 10, the number of confirmed cases of monkeypox in the United States has reached 10392. While the COVID-19 epidemic has not been leveled off, the monkeypox epidemic has arisen again. Successive public health crises have exposed the shortcomings of the US public health system. As the New York Times said, "the long-standing weakness of the US public health system has made the virus deeply rooted".
Epidemic spread
According to the CBS report on August 11, monkeypox cases have been reported in every state except Wyoming, and more than 100 cases have been reported in 15 states of the United States and Washington, D.C. "since late July, the United States has reported the largest number of monkeypox cases in the world".
With the spread of monkeypox in the United States, the US Department of health and human services (HHS) declared the monkeypox epidemic as a public health emergency on August 4. The monkeypox epidemic is causing more and more Americans to worry. According to the New York Times, this reminds people of the early days of the COVID-19 epidemic and makes people uneasy. Anne rimoyne, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has long studied monkeypox, warned: "if we do not continue to advance on all fronts every day, the less likely we will be to contain it."
Many experts analyze that the monkeypox epidemic in the United States is likely to become more and more serious. CDC estimates that 1.7 million people in the United States may be threatened by monkeypox. CDC officials said in an interview with CBS that for states with more than 25 cases of monkeypox infection, the average rate of monkeypox infection will "double every 8.6 days". According to an article published on August 11 in the Capitol Hill newspaper, the COVID-19 pandemic has been going on for more than two years. Facing another outbreak of infectious diseases at the international and national levels, the possibility of monkeypox virus spreading will only become more and more.
Slow response
The slow testing, insufficient vaccines, and the mutual restriction of the federal and state epidemic prevention policies... The US government's ineffective response to the monkeypox epidemic has attracted many criticisms.
Health experts in the United States analyzed that the delay in the detection of monkeypox virus caused the United States to miss the best time to respond. ABC quoted a CDC report on August 6, saying that from mid May to early June, US laboratories only tested more than 2000 samples of suspected monkeypox patients; It was not until late June that HHS announced that it would improve the test capability and accessibility through five commercial laboratories across the country. Perry halkittis, Dean of the Rutgers School of public health, told ABC: "the inability of the government and the federal public health department to respond earlier has cost us."
The shortage of monkeypox vaccine has also troubled the White House. A report in the New York Times revealed the vaccine dilemma in the early stage of the monkeypox epidemic in the United States: about 10 years ago, there were about 20 million doses of monkeypox vaccine in the United States to slow down the virus transmission. Now only 2400 doses of vaccine are available, and the rest of the doses have expired. "After the outbreak of monkeypox, many high-risk people who want to be vaccinated have been unable to obtain the vaccine, and may not get the vaccine in the next few months.".
Although the US government recently said that it has distributed about 600000 doses of vaccines and ordered a large number of vaccines, this is far from enough. According to the New York Times, experts estimate that 3.5 million doses of vaccines are needed to control the epidemic, and 500000 of the 1.1 million doses of vaccines ordered will not be delivered until October. Politico, a US political news website, quoted two senior White House officials as saying that the Biden administration is negotiating with several companies on millions of new doses of monkeypox vaccine, but it may take three to six months to prepare for distribution.
It is difficult to eliminate the accumulated evils
The new crown was not even, and the monkeypox started again. Many American media have reflected that "the United States has hardly learned a lesson from covid-19" and "failed to take public health issues seriously".
According to NPR, the outbreak of monkeypox comes at a time when the American public has a deeper understanding of infectious diseases. Covid-19 has made Americans familiar with public health concepts such as isolation, rapid detection and contact tracing. However, other lessons learned from covid-19 are not enough - for example, earlier and more powerful actions should be taken in the early stage of the epidemic. "I don't want to say that, but I think they are coming again," Rebecca Fischer, an infectious disease expert at Texas A & M University, told NPR
The weak response to the monkeypox epidemic has also once again exposed the persistent shortcomings of the US public health system. Greg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at Yale University's School of public health, told the New York Times that the health departments at the state and county levels in the United States often contradict the federal guidance when determining their own rules and priorities. "This machine is too rigid. The house is on fire, but we are still moving at the normal speed.".
According to an article published on August 12 in the Capitol Hill newspaper, so far, uncoordinated methods have continued to permeate the US response to the monkeypox crisis. "The response after the outbreak of monkeypox fully proves that the US government is still unable to take a coordinated national response to major health events.".