Today is Saturday, August 6, 2022. The wanna-be dictator in the Sunshine State is making headlines again when he suspended a Tampa prosecutor by the name of Andrew Warren just for putting his name on a letter in which he claimed he would not prosecute anyone charged with providing abortions in Hillsborough County. There were no cases in which Warren was expected to even prosecute. He was suspended because of a promise to do something at a future time. Here is yet another instance of this autocratic governor who oversteps his bounds every chance he gets in order to make himself admired by his disgusting MAGA base. This governor has made headlines for his virulent anti-LGBTQ+ positions and his anti-COVID mitigation measures. He proves himself as abominable as the former president time and time again. God help us if this Trump mini-me declares his candidacy for president in 2024!

The desperate situation concerning lack of monkeypox vaccine is evident in cities like San Francisco. There a line forms before sunrise outside Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, with some people arriving as early as 2 a.m., bringing fold-up chairs and blankets to protect against the Bay Area’s overnight chill. This dire situation is covered in an online CNN article by David Culver and Elizabeth Joseph entitled “Gay men are lining up as early as 2 a.m. for monkeypox vaccines. Many leave empty-handed.”

The men waiting on this line wear face masks and keep a social distance from others, obeying the ground rules from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here the desperate need for vaccines far outweighs what federal and state governments are able to supply.

The line is made up mostly of men who are waiting to be vaccinated against the newest health threat facing Americans, monkeypox. The illness is spreading rapidly, and on Thursday, the Biden administration declared it a public health emergency.

Many of the men on line will, sadly, leave empty handed, as local hospitals and clinics have had to rely on an inconsistent and insufficient supply of vaccines, a dilemma that has infuriated patients and advocates.

San Francisco Generał opens its clinic doors at 8 a.m. and the line inches slowly. The hospital will distribute available doses until the supply runs out.

Some advocates for the LGBTQ+ community say the perceived lack of governmental urgency in addressing a public health crisis that impacts queer communities today mirrors what gay men were experiencing decades ago.

The first case of monkeypox in this country was announced on May 18 in a patient hospitalized in Massachusetts who had traveled to Canada in private transportation. Less than three months later, there are more than 7,000 confirmed cases of the outbreak across the country, identified in all but two states – Montana and Wyoming – according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Even though the outbreak has disproportionately impacted mostly gay communities, there is growing concern over the spread of infection. In late July, the CDC reported the first two monkeypox cases in children. Two other pediatric cases have been confirmed in Indiana, and another in Long Beach, California, earlier this week.

The City of Long Beach cautioned, “This is a reminder that everyone, regardless of age or sexual orientation, can get monkeypox if they come into contact with the virus.”

So far there are over 500 cases of the outbreak identified across California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, and Texas, the latest CDC figures show. Of course, it’s this city that has the distinction of having the most cases as in the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic – 1,748 – followed by California with 826 confirmed cases.

The CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Tyler TerMeer, criticizes the federal government’s slow response to this new emergency, saying, “Dating all the way back to the earliest days of the HIV epidemic in our country, we saw our community abandoned by federal government in their response.” He urges that everyone should be rallying behind this issue and quickly. He said, “There is an imminent window of time by which we can get ahead of the fast spread of monkeypox across our country and that window continues to close.”

So let’s hope our government responds more urgently to this crisis, even if it seems to affect mostly the gay community – for now. History should not be repeated as in the AIDS calamity of the 80s and 90s.

Have a good Sunday. Tomorrow is going to be a scorcher like today, so stay cool.

Stay safe and be well.