Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said Wednesday that Monkeypox is the county’s new public health threat to prepare and respond to, even while still fighting COVID.
During the press briefing, Elrich emphasized the importance of continuing to take COVID seriously, while discussing the county’s efforts in battling Monkeypox, referred to as ‘MPX’ by Elrich and other officials.
“The bad news is that many people have let their guard down and they’re not taking seriously how devastating COVID can still be in some cases, or the effects of long COVID,” Elrich said.
As for Monkeypox, the county has been preparing its response since May, according to Elrich,
“Back in May, Montgomery County sent out a public health advisory regarding MPX,” said Kimberly Townsend, senior administrator for communicable diseases at the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services. “We started working on how to address this issue, specifically looking at ways that we can increase capacity so that we’re able to provide screening assessments as well as vaccination to community members.”
As of Thursday, there are 101 Monkeypox cases in the state. According to Townsend, Montgomery County public health has received a ‘very limited’ amount of Monkeypox vaccines and is expecting to receive more in the coming months.
Currently, 108 Monkeypox vaccines have been administered at Dennis Avenue Health Center in Silver Spring, Townsend said.
Though MPX is increasingly spreading on a national level, COVID is also a concern for the county.
Earlier this week, Montgomery County moved back into high community transmission for Covid, which Elrich addressed.
“Covid is here, and we need to continue to shape our behavior accordingly when our community levels change from low, medium to high,” Elrich said.
