<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655947856634,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-fe9d-da96-ad7d-ffbf8a5c0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655947856634,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-fe9d-da96-ad7d-ffbf8a5c0000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55919773", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1038247"} }); ","_id":"00000181-8e2f-d66a-a7c3-cf2f00de0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedThe Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is expanding testing capabilities for monkeypox to five commercial laboratories in a bid to keep up with a rising number of cases.
Test kits, shipped by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are going to Aegis Science, Labcorp, Mayo Clinic Laboratories, Quest Diagnostics, and Sonic Healthcare. Testing through these laboratories for healthcare providers is expected to be ready by early July and ramped up throughout the month.
HERE’S WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE GLOBAL MONKEYPOX OUTBREAK
“All Americans should be concerned about monkeypox cases. Thankfully we have right now the tools to fight and treat cases in America,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “By dramatically expanding the number of testing locations throughout the country, we are making it possible for anyone who needs to be tested to do so.”
Officials say the move will allow tens of thousands of tests to be conducted each week instead of relying on public labs that can only conduct over 8,000 tests a week, as reported by the Washington Post. Health officials have been monitoring a recent global outbreak of monkeypox, and they have cautioned that it does not pose the same level of risk as COVID-19.
“This is not COVID,” Jennifer McQuiston, a CDC official, told reporters last month. “Respiratory spread is not the predominant worry. It is contact and intimate contact in the current outbreak setting and population.”
Monkeypox is typically contracted by coming into close contact with infected animals and spread by touching or sharing infected items such as clothing and bedding, direct contact with infectious rashes or body fluids, or by body fluids and respiratory droplets produced by sneezing or coughing from an infected individual, according to the CDC.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The CDC has reported 156 monkeypox/orthopoxvirus cases as of Wednesday.
