NJ Councilman Worries About Monkeypox Impact On Gay Community

MONTCLAIR, NJ — Peter Yacobellis is concerned about monkeypox, both as a gay man and an elected official. But it’s not just the disease’s potential health effects the Montclair councilman is worried about – it’s society’s response to it.

Yacobellis, a longtime advocate for LGBTQ rights in Essex County, recently outlined some of his concerns about monkeypox, including its impact on the gay community. Read More: Some Monkeypox Vaccines Available For Montclair, Verona, Cedar Grove

“As a gay man, seeing this disease impact my community disproportionately, I'm concerned that the government response has been inadequate and state and federal officials need to step it up,” Yacobellis wrote in an email on Tuesday.

“With regard to vaccination, we know the federal government is working on increasing supply,” he told Patch. “But we know from the experience with COVID-19 that we can't rely on vaccination as a prevention tool in these early days. So this raises a question of – given we don't have enough vaccines right now – why are we not more aggressively contract-tracing or directing people to quarantine if experiencing symptoms or if they suspect they've been exposed?”

Yacobellis’ concern is shared by GLAAD – one of the world's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer media advocacy organizations – which recently said that news of additional monkeypox vaccine doses becoming available is “welcome and urgently needed.”

“As we saw with HIV, COVID-19 and now [monkeypox], discrimination, disinformation, racism and systemic breakdowns in the health care system continue to challenge LGBTQ Americans’ health as well as public health and safety – especially for LGBTQ people of color,” said DaShawn Usher, a director with GLADD.

“All people are susceptible to [monkeypox], but it showed up early in LGBTQ communities, resulting in additional stigma for us,” Usher said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), monkeypox – which was discovered in 1958 – has symptoms are similar to smallpox, but milder. The disease is rarely fatal.

The CDC says that monkeypox can spread person-to-person through:

• direct contact with the infectious rash, scabs, or body fluids
• respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact, or during intimate physical contact, such as kissing, cuddling, or sex
• touching items (such as clothing or linens) that previously touched the infectious rash or body fluids
• pregnant people can spread the virus to their fetus through the placenta

There have been 1,972 confirmed cases of the virus in the United States, according to the CDC. According to New Jersey health officials, the state has logged 41 cases of monkeypox as of Monday. Read More: NJ's Monkeypox Cases Double In 5 Days

No one has died of the disease in the United States, The New York Times reported Monday.

While public health experts say the risk of monkeypox is not limited to gay or bisexual men, some of the cases reported so far have been clustered around men who have sex with men.

A spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Health offered Patch the following statement on Wednesday:

“Although many of the individuals in our state who have been affected by monkeypox are men who have had close social or intimate contact with other men, we want to remind residents that monkeypox can spread from anyone to any other person. Part of our responsibility is to educate people on their potential risks and what they can do to protect themselves. While we are working to raise awareness among individuals currently at greater risk, the administration wants to make it clear that this is a public health issue that can affect anyone regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. There is no shame in testing, diagnosis or treatment of monkeypox, and we encourage everyone to learn more about the virus so that they can take preventative measures or contact their health care provider as necessary to help protect themselves and others.”

Other public health experts have put forth similar messages.

“Stigmatizing people because of a disease is never OK,” the World Health Organization recently said, adding that “anyone can get or pass on monkeypox – regardless of their sexuality.”

But GLADD noted that there’s more to that observation than meets the eye. According to a recently updated fact sheet from the group:

“A CDC statement released on May 18 says ‘anyone can spread monkeypox, regardless of sexual orientation,’ while also noting the current tracking suggests ‘gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men make up a high number of cases.’ However, independent public health researchers noted that limited testing capacity so far made it difficult to accurately measure the cases and spread.”

The nonprofit adds:

“A person’s sexual orientation or gender identity does not put them at higher risk of infection; close contact to an infected person puts them at greater risk of infection. As the CDC’s Dr. Demetre Daskalakis noted, [monkeypox] transmission is similar to the MRSA outbreak in 2008, with lessons we can apply for public health messaging and media coverage. With MRSA, athletes could be especially at risk because of close physical contact and shared facilities, not because they are athletes. Dr. Daskalakis reiterated that MPV transmission is more accurately linked to behavior than to a person’s identity.”

Experts are now trying to strike a delicate balance between warning people who may be at higher risk, and stigmatizing a community that has been unfairly scapegoated for health scares in the past, The New York Times reported.

It’s a fine line to walk, Yacobellis told Patch.

“The legacy of HIV/AIDS rightfully shook gay men's confidence in our government's capacity to address a disease that was disproportionally affecting us then – as this is now,” Yacobellis said. “I'm very concerned about the juxtaposition of having a health crisis affecting our community at the same time attacks on the LGBTQ+ community are on the rise.”

“Risk aversion and prevention information is not getting to at-risk populations in New Jersey, notably gay men,” he said. “I don't understand, after what we just went through with COVID-19, how we're not in front of this from a communications perspective, at least.”

“As a local elected official in a jurisdiction with a local health board and as head of an LGBTQ+ organization, I don't think I should be getting up to date information about the disease from my friends on Instagram,” Yacobellis added.

• See related article: Record-High Hate Reported In NJ: Bias Incidents Climbed In 2021

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