Since the World Health Organization declared mpox, also known as monkeypox, a global public health emergency, many social media users have speculated about the possibility of lockdowns like those that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some have even claimed that the international body “ordered” governments to prepare for “mega-lockdowns” to prevent the spread of the new strain called clade I, which has been detected mainly in African nations.
“President Trump warned us about the left’s plan to use ANOTHER PLANDEMIC TO START ANOTHER LOCKDOWN, and Trump warned the globalists that WE WILL NOT STAND FOR IT!” stated an August 26 post on X, formerly Twitter.
That It’s falseSo far, neither the WHO nor health authorities in the United States have issued any warnings about possible lockdowns over the new strain of monkeypox.
In fact, The international organization does not have the capacity to order closures in other countriesaccording to WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic. The organization only “provides technical advice to its 194 member states, which have the sovereignty to make their own public health decisions,” the official told Politifact.
Something that the organization has also highlighted is that monkeypox It is not the new COVID, since we know how to control the disease and the steps to eliminate its transmission completely. Another difference with COVID, which is a respiratory disease, is that mpox is a viral infection characterized by painful skin lesions, and is transmitted by direct contact with an infected person, an animal, or contaminated items such as clothing or bedding.
The virus is classified into two distinct groups: clade I and clade 2. The latter variant was responsible for the 2022 outbreak, when nearly 100,000 cases were recorded worldwide. The current alert is for a clade I variant. The outbreak began in January 2023 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has since spread to 12 other countries in the region.
Only one country outside Africa — Sweden — has confirmed a case of the new strain. Swedish authorities said the person became infected after a trip to that continent.
The concern about the recent clade I outbreak is that it is more contagious than clade 2 and may be more severe.
The CDC explained on its official website that from August 2022 to August of this year, more than 1 million vials of the Jynneos vaccine have been distributed in the United States to mitigate the spread and severity of the clade 2 variant. And in case cases of the new clade I strain are reported, health authorities “are working to better understand the efficacy of existing treatments for mpox.”
“The United States will continue to educate the public about mpox transmission, prevention, and treatment. Those who have already had clade 2 mpox, or who are fully vaccinated against this variant, are expected to be protected against clade 1 mpox,” the CDC added in an August 22 statement.
The cases detected this year in Mexico are related to clade 2, the majority in Mexico City, according to the Mexican Ministry of Health.
So far, neither the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) nor the WHO have asked people to avoid travel to African countries where the outbreak has been detected.
