Monkeypox cases rise in San Francisco to among highest in country, city's health officer says
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Health officials in San Francisco are now calling monkeypox "m-pox" as local cases continue to rise to alarming numbers this week.
On Wednesday, KPIX spoke to Dr. Susan Philip, health officer for the city and county of San Francisco. Philip reported that as of the night before, 672 cases of "m-pox" in San Francisco, one of the highest in the country.
While she praised her office's response, she says it's too early to declare monkeypox cases trending downwards. The bottom line: there's no change and experts need more weeks of data to see if the response is showing a downturn in cases.
KPIX asked the doctor why the Latino community within the category of men who have sex with men is disproportionately affected.
"What we are seeing is Latino men are disproportionately affected in San Francisco. And we need to be able to work with those groups, but not perpetuate stigma," Philip said. "We didn't know early on the disparities were there to same extent as we saw data yes we worked with partners we already had - remember COVID disproportionately impacted these communities."
Philip said more vaccines will roll out in the city's Mission District, as well as deepening partnerships with leaders from the Mission and beyond.
