Debate Over Monkeypox Messaging Divides N.Y.C. Health Department
A debate over how best to warn New Yorkers about monkeypox is roiling the New York City Department of Health. At the center of the dispute is a fundamental disagreement about public messaging, with some health officials saying the city should be encouraging gay men to reduce their number of sexual partners while monkeypox spreads, while others argue that message would backfire.
The internal turmoil peaked when the health department issued an advisory last week suggesting that having sex while infected with monkeypox could be made safer if people avoided kissing and covered their sores.
Several officials at the agency were outraged, saying the agency was giving misleading and even dangerous health advice, according to several epidemiologists within the agency and a review of internal emails.
The advice on safer sex was not medically sound, said Dr. Don Weiss, the director of surveillance for the department’s Bureau of Communicable Diseases, in an interview.
