Ohio Department of Health to address monkeypox, COVID today
Aug. 11—The Ohio Department of Health will discuss the COVID-19 pandemic as well as monkeypox in a press conference this morning.
ODH Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, Akron Children's Hospital Chief Academic Officer Dr. Michael Forbes and OhioHealth Medical Director of Infectious Diseases Dr. Joe Gastaldo are scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. today.
The public can watch the press conference live on YouTube. This story will be updated throughout the press conference.
While coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths are far from what the state saw during its previous peaks, ODH reported slow, but steady increases in recent weeks. Last week every county in the Miami Valley was at a "high" COVID community level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Monday, Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County announced the county had confirmed its first case of monkeypox. While risk to the public is low at this time, the virus can be spread through direct contact with the rash, scabs or body fluids, according to Public Health.
Symptoms include flu-like symptoms, swollen lymph nodes and a rash. Other cases identified across the country were less likely to start with flu-like symptoms and swollen lymph nodes, according to Public Health. The rash, which can look like pimples or blisters, may also stay in area of the body.
People who do not have symptoms cannot spread the virus.
