Washington D.C. reports nation’s highest number of monkeypox cases per capita

Washington D.C., the nation’s capital, currently has the highest number of monkeypox cases per capita.

In a Monday news conference, district officials revealed that monkeypox cases had climbed to 122 cases as of Sunday. This represents about one case per 6,500 residents. D.C. reported their first monkeypox case in early June.

As noted by NBC Washington, states leading behind Washington D.C. are New York, Illinois and California.

The district currently has 8,300 vaccine doses available after having administered 2,600 of those. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) said Sunday that the District would need another “100,000 doses to address the current target population.”

The Biden administration on Friday ordered 2.5 million monkeypox vaccines from the Danish company, Bavarian Nordic. D.C. officials expect to receive another 4,000 vaccines from the federal government in the coming weeks.

According to D.C.’s Director of Health, Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, 95 percent of monkeypox cases reported in the district have been in gay males. There is no treatment to cure monkeypox.

“We are specifically working with reaching out to members of the LGBTQ+ community, specifically gay and bisexual men, because those are the communities most affected by the virus at this moment,” Bowser said.

Those eligible for the monkeypox vaccination are men who have sex with men, transgender women and nonbinary people who have sex with men, sex workers, and staff at “establishments where sexual activity occurs.” However, Nesbitt emphasized: “Anyone can contract monkeypox, and this is important that we do not create stigma at this time and that we encourage individuals to be on the lookout for symptoms.”

According to the CDC, monkeypox primarily spreads through direct contact with the infectious rash, scabs, body fluids, respiratory secretions during prolonged face-to-face contact, as well as intimate physical contact, such as hugging, kissing, and sex. It can also be contracted through fabrics used by an infected person.