Monkeypox Cases Climb In NJ As Global Concerns Mount

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey is up to 22 monkeypox cases as of Thursday morning, according to state health officials. The total continues to slowly increase less than a month after the New Jersey Department of Health reported the state's first probable case of the disease.

State officials reported only four monkeypox cases at the end of June.

The global monkeypox outbreak has sparked mounting concerns. The World Health Organization declined to label monkeypox a global emergency last month, but the agency announced Tuesday it will hold an emergency meeting next week to reconsider whether the virus mounts to a global-health threat.

Monkeypox is "much less" contagious than fast-spreading diseases such as COVID-19 and hasn't caused any deaths in the United States, according to President Joe Biden's administration. But much like the early months of COVID's emergence, the beginning of the monkeypox outbreak represents a pivotal window for mitigation efforts that can determine just how much of a public-health danger the disease could pose.

The New Jersey Department of Health has tallied 22 monkeypox infections as of Thursday morning. While New Jersey's total combines both probable and confirmed cases, the CDC has confirmed 20 of the infections.

There's little public information about where in the state officials have detected monkeypox's presence. While the state health department's COVID dashboard has long contained county-level and even some municipal-level data on the virus, the agency's monkeypox page has no data outside of the total number of probable and confirmed cases in the state.

The state's first-reported monkeypox infection was identified in Jersey City, according to city officials. Camden County officials reported the area's first case July 5 and confirmed eight days later that they detected a second.

While health officials have cited privacy reasons for not delving into case geography within the state, the lack of public information has left many New Jerseyans in the dark on whether monkeypox has reached their communities in any way.

Patched asked the state health department for county-level monkeypox-case data but didn't receive a response in time for initial publication.

The worldwide case total jumped from 6,000 as of July 4 to 9,200 in 63 counties as of Tuesday, according to CNBC. Three monkeypox deaths have been reported so far.

Most people during the recent outbreak have recovered in two to four weeks, according to the CDC. But the virus can cause painful rashes, along with flu-like symptoms and swollen lymph nodes.

Unlike COVID, monkeypox isn't new. Scientists first discovered monkeypox in 1958. The disease is endemic in 10 nations in West and Central Africa. But since the first case was reported outside of Africa in 2003, there have been smaller, intermittent outbreaks around the globe. The recent outbreak, however, has prompted considerations over whether the spread amounts to a global health threat.

The monkeypox outbreak also differs from the beginning of the COVID emergency in that vaccines already exist to fight the disease. The vaccines have been in low supply in the United States and remain available in limited situations.