Florida Dept. of Health Tells Nikki Fried to ‘Leave Public Health to the Public Health Officials’ After Monkeypox Messaging

August 2, 2022 Updated 4:35 P.M. ET

TALLAHASSEE (FLV) – Florida Department of Health Press Secretary Jeremy Redfern said Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried should “leave public health to the public health officials” after Fried held a press conference about monkeypox Monday.

“Because we now have parents and moms reaching out to us and thinking they’re at risk and their children are at risk for monkeypox,” Redfern said. “And that’s just not really the case. The overall risk in Florida, and really, in the United States, for the general population is still extremely low.”

Fried held a press conference Monday that aimed to raise awareness and share virus detection and prevention information. The Price Center at Equality Park and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation Medical Director joined the virtual press conference.

“Knowledge is power. Anyone can get monkeypox, so it’s important for everyone to be educated on what it is, what to look out for, and the resources available to help treat and prevent the virus,” Fried said. “By raising awareness and sharing critical resources – and calling for more resources as needed – we can help prevent further spread of monkeypox in our communities and help public health officials contain this outbreak. We’ll get through this, together.”

As of Monday, There were 442 monkeypox cases across 22 counties with 319 of them identified in Broward and Miami-Dade.

“Messaging to the entire Florida population that they’re at risk for monkeypox doesn’t actually further the goal to make sure that those who are at risk for this disease, know that they are at risk,” Redfern said.

Redfern said since Fried’s press briefing, the department has received calls from people thinking they are at risk. He said the health department is using resources to respond to those calls instead of focusing on the populations that are at risk. 

“By what she’s doing she’s taking up our resources that we could actually be using to respond to this,” he said. “Now we have resources tied up answering questions from people who aren’t at risk for the disease.”

Redfern pointed to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that said 98% of the monkeypox cases are among males who have sex with other males.

“And that is who we are messaging to,” Redfern said. “That’s who we’re making sure it gets the message that they are the ones that are at risk.”

The Florida Department of Health at the county level works with groups like Ryan White HIV Care providers to provide information to at-risk populations about monkeypox.

“The people that need the monkeypox vaccine right now, they’re getting it,” Redfern said. “We’re not just going to give it out to anybody.”

He said there are not enough vaccines coming from the federal government.

“It’s not it’s not a risk to the entire population, so there’d be no reason and trying to do some mass vaccination,” he explained.

Monkeypox is “very difficult” to transmit, according to Redfern. Human-to-human transmission generally requires prolonged face-to-face contact, direct contact with an active rash, or indirect contact with an active rash through contaminated items, such as contaminated clothing. He suggests those who think they have been exposed contact their doctor.

“This isn’t something that you’re going to pick up out in the community, it really takes that prolonged close, intimate contact,” Redfern said. “That’s why that 95% of cases have been transmitted through some sort of sexual activity”

Fried called on Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency Tuesday citing a “rapid increase” of monkeypox cases in Florida. She wants the governor to ramp up testing and vaccine sites.

“While we are likely to see monkeypox cases continue to increase over the coming weeks, the state can – and must – take immediate action to limit the impact of this outbreak by declaring a state of emergency,” Fried said.

California, New York and Illinois have declared monkeypox states of emergency to help with logistics and coordination efforts. Redfern said there has not been discussions of a state emergency at the Florida Department of Health regarding monkeypox.

“I’ve tried to look to see what they are accomplishing by declaring a state of emergency for this, and I can’t really see what their state emergency accomplishes,” he said.

Florida’s Voice reached out to Commissioner Fried for a comment.