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A “Global Emergency?” Nah, Just Global Political Correctness
The World Health Organization (WHO) has only six other times declared a disease-specific “global health emergency.” Covid-19 was the most recent one, although they can’t seem (refuse?) to confirm its origination. Ebola is a highly fatal disease that has inspired several disaster movies. Zika is another one known for causing brain defects in infants born to mothers infected by the virus. MERS, a Middle-Eastern coronavirus respiratory disease, earned the designation in 2012. A pair of especially virulent flu viruses, including H1N1 in 2009-10, largely round out a list that includes several humanitarian crises in places like Afghanistan.

But Monkeypox is the latest. The media, as usual, brims with fear-mongering stories about a disease that is rarely fatal and has infected some 4,000 people – mostly gay men and a few others who have come in contact with them. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have piled on, giving it “Alert 2” status and calling for “enhanced precautions.” But they’re not entirely inaccurate about how the disease is spread.