Will Sutton: A pandemic, COVID and now monkeypox. What’s next?

I just can’t.

Monkeypox? Really?

Anyone who knows me, and anyone who reads me, knows I’ve been super concerned about COVID-19. I’ve been extra careful, following mandates, directions and suggestions and even doing things no one in charge ever said I had to do.

Now I have to worry about a virus with flu-like symptoms AND a nasty, ugly rash that takes week to go away.

I don’t mean to scare you, but though this thing is nothing like the vicious COVID virus, its symptoms are simple enough to make many of us concerned. I don’t get backaches, chills, headaches and muscle aches on a regular basis. Never have. But every time I have felt any of that in the last couple of years, I have been concerned at a minimum, or even freaked out. Fortunately, I caught COVID only once. It knocked me down, even with vaccinations and a booster, but I got up and got back in the game with the wonders of medicine. 

Now when I get those symptoms, I’ll be wondering if any of them are a sign that I might have been exposed to monkeypox.

The Louisiana Department of Health identified the first monkeypox case in our state a few days ago. Case No. 1 was in the health region that includes Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes. Someone visiting Louisiana from elsewhere tested positive for monkeypox.

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already knowing about more than 600 monkeypox cases across the nation, it’s now clear that this virus is spreading and going to be with us for a stretch.

Dr. Joe Kanter, our state health officer, was clear when he talked with the media. “The widely held belief is that there is more monkeypox circulating in this country than has been formally identified and diagnosed,” he said.

The bad news is that this is the start of something that isn’t going away any time soon.

The good news is that we know what to do. We just have to do it.

Anyone can get monkeypox, but gay and bisexual men seem to have a higher risk. Monkeypox can be transmitted through bed linens and shared utensils. So, you might want to consider who you’re spending time with on bedding, washing your linens more frequently and sharing delicious bites only with separate forks and spoons.

Washing hands shouldn’t just be something done before and after sex. Some of the best monkeypox minds in our state say slowing monkeypox spread can be achieved by washing hands regularly AND avoiding the monkeypox rash on people who have been infected.

Can you say social distance?

There have been a few monkeypox deaths around the country, but it’s not likely that anyone is going to die from monkeypox here. But who wants to walk around with an ugly rash?

We’ve had enough of the pandemic and COVID and all the precautions that come with it. If we do the right things and keep monkeypox at bay we’ll be closer to getting out of one pandemic without starting another.