As a new virus has killed 6 gay men in Florida, the Biden administration declared yesterday that it is expanding monkeypox testing to commercial laboratories amid fears that the nation is undercounting monkeypox cases because of insufficient testing.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced that it started shipping monkeypox tests this week to five private testing companies: Aegis Science, Labcorp, Mayo Clinic Laboratories, Quest Diagnostics, and Sonic Healthcare.
FROM CONTROVERSY TO COMPASSION: DANIEL SNYDER'S JAW-DROPPING GIFT LEAVES NATION IN AWE
Many public health specialists have cautioned that the U.S. risks repeating the mistakes of the early weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak when there was not enough testing to detect how widely the virus was really spreading.
WATCH: RFK JR. WILL REVERSE 80 YEARS OF FARM POLICY
“Now the United States, once again, appears to be responding to a new health threat with an underpowered testing response,” Jennifer Nuzzo of Brown University and Jay Varma of Cornell University wrote in a Washington Post op-ed this week.
INTRUDER SLIPS PAST TSA, BOARDS DELTA PLANE, IN EPIC SECURITY FAILURE
There is already a network of public health labs across the nation able to do monkeypox testing, though specialists explain that it will be easier for doctors to order tests from commercial laboratories where they have established relationships and can jump through fewer hoops, thereby encouraging more testing.
JAMES CARVILLE'S CONTROVERSIAL CRITIQUE: IS WOKE CULTURE KILLING DEMOCRATIC SUPPORT?
“All Americans should be concerned about monkeypox cases. Thankfully we have right now the tools to fight and treat cases in America,” announced HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “By dramatically expanding the number of testing locations throughout the country, we are making it possible for anyone who needs to be tested to do so.”
FROM CONTROVERSY TO COMPASSION: DANIEL SNYDER'S JAW-DROPPING GIFT LEAVES NATION IN AWE
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)reports roughly 150 monkeypox cases in the U.S. currently, though the actual number could be higher.
Nonetheless, specialists explain there are significant differences that mean that monkeypox is not simply a repeat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
WATCH: ATF IS SET TO CRIMINALIZE 10 MILLION AMERICANS
For one, it spread less easily. The CDC explains it spreads through direct contact with rashes, through clothes or bed sheets that have been in contact with the rash, or through “prolonged, face-to-face contact.”
THE PLOT THICKENS: TRUMP CHEERS ON RFK JR'S RUN, BUT WHY?
“Monkeypox is rare and does not spread easily between people without close contact,” the CDC states. “The threat of monkeypox to the general U.S. population remains LOW.”
Health officials are encouraging doctors to consider monkeypox testing if they see patients who have rashes that could be from monkeypox.