It Begins: Monkeypox Outbreak Among Atlanta Schoolchildren
The 2022-2023 school year is just beginning in some cities, and because the U.S. has done virtually nothing to prevent or even slow the spread of monkeypox over the last three months, the virus is now starting to spread throughout school districts. If something extremely significant isn’t done immediately (mandatory vaccinations at public schools, for example), the next couple of months are going to be insane. Via AJC:
Three children in Georgia have been diagnosed with monkeypox, including one child who lives in metro Atlanta, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Newton County Schools System announced Tuesday that one elementary-school-aged child in Newton County, a student at Mansfield Elementary School, has been diagnosed with monkeypox. Another child in the district who attends Flint Hill Elementary is undergoing testing for the infectious disease, according to school officials.
In addition to the Newton case, DPH spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said one earlier pediatric case of monkeypox had been reported in metro Atlanta, but she would not specify which county the case was located in. A third confirmed pediatric case also exists in the state, Nydam said, but she wouldn’t say where in Georgia it was located.
[AJC]
There are now over 1,200 confirmed cases in Georgia alone, but the actual number of infections in the state is likely twice that amount. A local news report on one of the elementary school cases:
