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Monkeypox may soon have a new breeding ground: college campuses.
With students gathering from various parts of the country and the world at college campuses in the coming weeks, monkeypox will likely spread. Schools should do what they can to mitigate the spread of the virus, and students deserve an honest answer about the best way to prevent themselves from contracting the virus: abstaining from or limiting homosexual activity.
Although it’s not politically correct and will likely offend liberals on college campuses, this is the most effective way of preventing the virus from spreading. Sexual activity resulted in 95% of monkeypox cases from April 27 to June 24 this year in 16 countries, according to a research paper in the New England Journal of Medicine. And 98% of those who contracted the virus were gay men.
Ideally, at-risk students would remain abstinent. Men not having sex with other men is the best way to prevent this virus from spreading.
But some gay students will not take the advice about staying abstinent, so colleges should explain that monogamy and practicing safe sex, including using condoms, is another way to mitigate the virus from spreading. (Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that condoms alone will not stop the spread of the monkeypox.)
Unfortunately, schools aren’t providing students with this direct, honest messaging they need to prevent themselves from getting sick. If you knew nothing about the monkeypox and visited Georgetown University’s monkeypox page, you wouldn’t learn much.
“Monkeypox can be transmitted through close physical contact with someone who has symptoms through direct skin to skin contact with rash, bodily fluid, pus, or blood from skin lesions and scabs,” Georgetown wrote. “According to the CDC, it can also be transmitted via respiratory secretion during prolonged, face-to-face contact (e.g., kissing). Pregnant women can transmit the virus to the fetus through the placenta.”
The school’s message is too vague. There is no reason why Georgetown shouldn’t say that monkeypox is spreading through homosexual activity. Schools should want to protect their students from getting sick. Muddying the message doesn’t help schools achieve that goal.
Like Georgetown, Columbia University also falls short of telling students how to avoid monkeypox.
“Individuals can minimize their risk for exposure by: Asking sexual partners whether they have a rash or other symptoms of monkeypox,” Columbia wrote. “Avoiding skin-to-skin contact with someone who has a rash or other monkeypox symptoms and those diagnosed with monkeypox. Not sharing bedding, towels, clothing, utensils, or cups with a person with monkeypox.”
Although these tips should help prevent monkeypox from spreading, they’re incomplete. It takes between five and 21 days for monkeypox symptoms to appear, according to the National Health Service. Columbia will not tell its students this or recommend abstinence, which could prevent some students from getting sick and spreading this virus.
And while the messaging from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst is better, it still falls short.
“Avoid close contact (including sexual contact) with people who are sick or have a rash and their household/contaminated items,” the UMass website suggests. “Decrease the number of sex and intimate contact partners. Avoid gatherings where people wear minimal clothing and have direct, intimate, skin-to-skin contact. Be mindful of activities (e.g., kissing, sharing drinks and eating utensils) that might increase the risk for spreading monkeypox whenever you gather with others.”
It’s good that the school tells students to limit their number of sexual partners. Monogamy is better for society than its alternatives. But notice the school isn’t clear about who is at the highest risk of catching this virus.
If schools were honest about the risks of the monkeypox, they could prevent many students from living in fear and allow others to do their best to avoid catching the virus. Instead, these colleges are being politically correct, which could have dangerous consequences.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts.
