Biden Administration Will Not Renew Emergency Declaration for Mpox as Rate of New Cases Falls
The Biden Administration announced it will not extend the Emergency Declaration for Mpox, citing the declining rate of new infections. As of December 1, health officials have confirmed a total of 29,603 cases and 17 deaths in the US. When the public health emergency was first declared, the country was seeing more than 600 new cases per day. Currently the US is reporting 7 new cases per day. The virus, originally known as Monkeypox, is now referred to as Mpox to help lessen stigma and discrimination tied to the disease. The vast majority of people experiencing Mpox infections have been men who had sex with men. The downward trend in cases is encouraging sign this epidemic has become more contained and controllable. Nevertheless Mpox remains a public health concern demanding a coordinated response. The administration explained that “the expiration of the PHE will signal we are leaving the emergency phase of the outbreak and are transitioning to the ongoing and urgent work of vaccinating those at-risk and providing treatments and other support to those affected so that we can continue the progress to a durable end of mpox transmission”.
Full Story: CNN , New York Times