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Mpox “not the new COVID,” World Health Organization says after declaring health emergency over Africa cases
Geneva — The mpox outbreak is not another COVID-19, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, because much is already known about the virus and the means to control it. While more research is needed on the Clade 1b strain which prompted the United Nations agency to declare a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the spread of mpox can be reined in, the WHO’s European director Hans Kluge said.
In July 2022, the WHO declared a PHEIC over the international outbreak of the less severe Clade 2b strain of mpox, which mostly affected gay and bisexual men. The alarm was lifted in May 2023.
“Mpox is not the new COVID,” Kluge insisted. “We know how to control mpox and, in the European region, the steps needed to eliminate its transmission altogether,” he told a media briefing in Geneva, via video-link.
“Two years ago, we controlled mpox in Europe thanks to the direct engagement with the most affected communities,” he said. We put in place robust surveillance; we thoroughly investigated new cases contacts; and we provided sound public health advice. Behavior change, non-discriminatory public health action, and mpox vaccination contributed to controlling the outbreak.”
Kluge said the risk to the general population from the virus was low.
“Are we going to go in lockdown in the WHO European region, [as if] it’s another COVID-19? The answer is clearly no,” he said.
Kluge said the predominant route of transmission remained close skin-to-skin contact, but he said it was possible that someone in the acute phase of mpox infection, especially with blisters in the mouth, could transmit the virus to close contacts by droplets, in circumstances such as in the home or in hospitals.
“The modes of transmission are still a bit unclear. More research is required,” he said.
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said the agency was not recommending the use of masks.
“We are not recommending mass vaccination. We are recommending to use vaccines in outbreak settings for the groups who are most at risk,” he added.
Arlette Bashizi/REUTERS
The WHO declared an international health emergency on August 14, concerned by the rise in cases of Clade 1b in the Democratic Republic of Congo and its spread to nearby countries.
The WHO declaration came after the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the outbreaks of mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) a public health emergency, with more than 500 deaths attributed to the disease, and called for international help to stop it spreading.
“This is something that should concern us all,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the time. “The potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying.”
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A Georgia county’s emergency call center was overwhelmed by calls on Sept. 4 about a school shooting at Apalachee High School that killed four people and wounded nine others, records released Friday by Barrow County show.
Local news organizations report many of the 911 phone calls were not released under public record requests because state law exempts from release calls recording the voice of someone younger than 18 years old. That exemption would cover calls from most of the 1,900 students at the school in Winder, northeast of Atlanta.
Calls spiked around 10:20 a.m., when authorities have said that 14-year-old suspect Colt Gray began shooting. Many calls were answered with an automated message saying there was a “high call volume,” WAGA-TV reported.
One man called 911 after receiving text messages from a girlfriend. He was put on hold for just over 10 minutes because of an influx of calls at the time of the shooting, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“She hears people yelling outside, so I don’t know if that’s officers in the building or that’s — I don’t know,” he said, adding that she was eventually evacuated out of the school.
Other adults also called 911 after their children contacted them.
“My daughter calling me crying. Somebody go ‘boom, boom, boom, boom,'” one mother said. The 911 operator responded: “Ma’am we have officers out there, OK?”
Parents of students at an elementary school and middle school neighboring Apalachee also flooded 911 seeking information.
“Sir, my daughter goes to school next door to Apalachee. Is there a school shooter?” one caller asked.
“We do have an active situation (at) Apalachee High School right now,” the operator responded. “We have a lot of calls coming in.”
More than 500 radio messages between emergency personnel were also released Friday.
“Active shooter!” an officer yells in one audio clip while speaking with a dispatcher, CNN reported. Another officer responds, “Correct. We have an active shooter at Apalachee High School.”
The shooting killed teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, as well as students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, with seven of those hit by gunfire.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation reported Thursday that the suspect rode the school bus on the day of the shooting with the assault-style rifle concealed in his backpack.
He then asked a teacher for permission to go to the front office to speak with someone, and when he received it, he was allowed to take his backpack with him, GBI said. He then went to a restroom, where he hid, and then eventually took out the weapon and started shooting, investigators said. A knife was also found on him when he was arrested.
According to investigators, the suspect enrolled at Apalachee High on Aug. 14, and between Aug. 14 and the day of the shooting, he was absent for nine days of school.
The family told CBS News that the suspect’s maternal grandmother had visited the school the day before the massacre to discuss the suspect’s alleged behavioral issues.
The suspect has been charged as an adult with four counts of murder, and District Attorney Brad Smith has said more charges are likely to be filed against him in connection with the wounded. Authorities have also charged his father, 54-year-old Colin Gray, alleging that he gave his son access to the gun when he knew or should have known that the teen was a danger to himself and others.
The 13,000 students at Barrow County’s other schools returned to class Tuesday. The 1,900 students who attend Apalachee are supposed to start returning the week of Sept. 23, officials said Friday.
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