Dr. Deena Hinshaw apologized for creating a sense of embarrassment among community members after a series of tweets indicated that confirmed cases of monkeypox had been seen worldwide, mostly in men who reported having sex. sex with other men.
There are officially four cases of smallpox in the province.
During a press conference on Thursday, the medical director of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, addressed concerns about the stigmatization of the LGBTQ2S + community after a series of tweets indicating that most of the confirmed cases so far had been produced in men who reported having sex with other men.
“This means there may be a high risk in this community right now,” he said Thursday, adding that the province has contacted organizations that support members of the LGBTQ2S + community and then to get feedback, has provided information to circulate to members.
Hinshaw said the disclosure does not indicate that only one community could be affected.
“We are working with these organizations and sharing this current information on risk factors to ensure that people have accurate and timely data on the outbreak,” he said. “This is not being done to embarrass or stigmatize anyone and does not mean that anyone who has contracted smallpox or close contact has done anything wrong.”
The virus is transmitted by close skin-to-skin contact with a person with symptoms or by close contact with contaminated items such as clothing or bedding.
Symptoms include fever, swollen glands, new sores, and rash. While these symptoms may be associated with a variety of conditions, those with new or worsening symptoms of this nature are encouraged to call Health Link at 811 for additional information.
According to Hinshaw, the overall risk of contracting smallpox in the province is low, currently all positive cases are isolating and collaborating with the contact tracking process.
During a June 9 press conference, a reporter said Hinshaw’s groups were expressing dissatisfaction with a “monkeypox briefing sheet” distributed across the province, explaining that they felt it was embarrassing and stigmatizing the community. , similar to what happened during the AIDS crisis.
“I’m sorry that this particular data sheet has caused this, it was certainly not the intention,” Hinshaw said in response.
“We tried to get feedback from various organizations on the wording, the language, and we did our best to balance the need for timely dissemination of accurate information,” he said. “But I absolutely understand that groups that didn’t get a chance to comment on the content may feel that they wished we had framed things differently.”
COVID-19 was also addressed during the press conference, with Health Minister Jason Copping virtually joining Hinshaw to present the issues that were released on Wednesday.
All major indicators, including hospital and intensive care presentations and wastewater data, continue a downward trend.
There are currently 816 in the hospital with the virus and 24 in the ICU.
From the 17th to the 23rd of May. 42 COVID-related deaths were reported to Alberta Health. Also during this time period, 33 deaths from COVID reported above were reclassified and eliminated from the total deaths, which means that there was a new increase in this week’s figures.