State and federal health agencies are gearing up to respond to a new strain of mpox — the virus formerly known as monkeypox — if the new strain spreads to the United States.
But this time, they are doing so with fewer resources.
Both an mpox public health emergency declaration and federal pandemic preparedness law were still in effect in 2022, the last time the U.S. faced a widespread mpox outbreak. That gave the federal government and state health departments more resources and flexibility than it has now to deal with an outbreak.
