Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he will not follow the White House’s lead in declaring a state of emergency over the Monkeypox virus as cases rise to 985 people.
The Florida Department of Health recorded 985 people being infected with virus as of Tuesday, jumping up nearly double from 525 reported infections this time last week. The health agency has now ordered 72,000 vaccine doses from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and will deliver installments through October.
Gov. DeSantis said that he does not believe that a state of emergency over the virus is necessary over its “low risk” and warns that other states will abuse their emergency powers to restrict individual freedoms much like the outbreak of COVID-19.
“You see some of these states declaring states of emergency, they’re going to abuse those emergency powers to restrict your freedom. I guarantee you that’s what will happen. We saw it so much with COVID,” DeSantis said.
Department of Health Spokesman Jeremy Redfern said that will he considers Monkeypox “low risk” he predicts more of the general public will contract the virus in the coming months.
“That being said, due to the lack of monkeypox vaccines from the federal government, we are expecting infections to increase,” Redfern said. “Monkeypox is proving to be extremely painful for those infected, but the fatality rate remains at zero in the US.”
