Dr Dinah Hinshaw apologized for embarrassing the community after a series of tweets showed that confirmed cases of monkeypox worldwide were seen mainly in men who reported having sex with other men.
There are officially four cases of monkeypox in the province.
During a press conference on Thursday, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dinah Hinshaw drew attention to concerns about stigmatizing the LGBTQ2S + community after a series of tweets showing that the majority of confirmed cases so far have been in men. have had sex with other men.
“This means that there may be an increased risk in this community at the moment,” she said on Thursday, adding that the province had contacted organizations supporting members of the LGBTQ2S + community and provided information after gathering feedback. to be distributed to members.
Hinshaw said that this scope does not show that only one community has the potential to be affected.
“We work with these organizations and share this current information on risk factors to ensure that people have accurate and timely data on the outbreak,” she said. “This is not done to embarrass or stigmatize someone, and it does not mean that someone who has contracted monkeypox or is in close contact has done something wrong.
The virus is spread through close skin-to-skin contact with a person who has symptoms, or close contact with contaminated items such as clothing or bedding.
Symptoms include fever, swollen glands, new sores and a rash. Although these symptoms may be associated with various conditions, those with new or worsening symptoms of this nature are encouraged to call the Health Link on 811 for more information.
According to Hinshaw, the overall risk of contracting monkeypox in the province is low, with all positive cases currently being isolated and cooperating with the contact tracking process.
During a press conference on June 9, a reporter said Hinshaw’s groups expressed dissatisfaction with the “monkey measles fact sheet” distributed by the province, explaining that they considered it a disgrace and stigmatization of the community, similar to what happened. during the AIDS crisis.
“I’m sorry that this particular fact sheet caused this, it was certainly not the goal,” Hinshaw said in response.
“We tried to get feedback from several organizations on the wording, the language, and we did everything we could to balance the need for timely dissemination of accurate information,” she said. “But I fully understand that groups that have not had the opportunity to provide feedback on the content may think that they would like us to put things differently.”
COVID-19 was also discussed at the press conference, with Health Minister Jason Kopping joining Hinshaw in practice to present the figures, which were released on Wednesday.
All key indicators, including hospital and intensive care data and wastewater data, continue to decline.
There are currently 816 in the hospital with the virus and 24 in the intensive care unit.
From May 17 to May 23, 42 COVID-related deaths were reported to Alberta Health. Also during this time period, 33 previously reported deaths from COVID were reclassified and eliminated from the total number of deaths, which means that there is an increase of nine in the numbers for this week.
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