Slow response to monkeypox exposes ‘tired, overworked’ US health agencies

Virus has taken hold amid ragged system ravaged by years of underfunding, messy bureaucracy and Covid

A slow and bureaucratic" response that has seen monkeypox spread rapidly across the US - with more than a thousand cases in New York City alone - reveals just how badly battered local health agencies have been since the Covid pandemic, advocates have said.

Once a rare African virus, monkeypox has taken hold amid the ragged patchwork of city, county, state and federal agencies that make up the US public health infrastructure.