Could we be on the cusp of the next pandemic? United Airlines had advised its employees to educate themselves concerning monkeypox and take steps to avoid its spread. The warning comes as the monkeypox case count continues its rapid rise.
United Airlines Addresses Monkeypox In Memo To Employees
A memo to employees shared with Live and Let’s Fly seeks to inform employees about the rise in monkeypox cases, dispel misconceptions about it, and call upon employees to educate themselves in order to take proper steps to protect themselves against the virus.
The unusual spread of monkeypox around the world since mid-May – from a handful of cases to more than 23,000 today in 80 countries – has driven increased attention from global and national health organizations, and federal and state governments.
Unusual indeed. This had been a virus restricted to Africa until it suddenly began spreading a few months ago.
United warns:
Monkeypox spread is not limited to the LGBTQ+ community – anyone can get it.
Indeed, anyone can get it, though World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently explained:
“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little. Although I am declaring a public health emergency of international concern for the moment, this is an outbreak that is concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners. That means that this is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups.”
There are currently about 3,000 cases in the USA including two children.
Currently, monkeypox is only thought to be contagious when one is symptomatic.
Symptoms include:
- body aches
- chills
- fatigue
- fever
- headache
- rash
- respiratory symptoms
- cough
- nasal congestion
- sore throat
- swollen lymph nodes
It is generally not deadly, though multiple deaths have been reported in recent days.
United warns:
There are a few important points to remember. Monkeypox is not known to linger in the air and is not transmitted during short periods of shared airspace. It does not spread easily between people; however, anyone in close contact with a person with monkeypox can get it and should take steps to protect themselves.
Might we see a return to flight attendants wearing masks and gloves? Not yet, though United reminds employee:
Our current policies allow employees to wear masks and gloves if they choose to do so.
After two years of COVID-19, would have thought we’d have a new infectious disease to contend with?
CONCLUSION
Monkeypox is spreading to the point that California, Illinois, and New York have declared public emergencies. United is educating its employees about the virus and warning them to take precautions to prevent its spread. While monkeypox is rarely deadly and very different than COVID-19, it is a disturbing sign that the virus is spreading os fast in nations outside where it is endemic.
image: Nigeria Centre for Disease Control / WHO
Can’t these people just stop being butt pirates with random people for just one second? This is not at all like covid where one could be in a grocery unmasked and get it.
Jan, don’t be mad just because you aren’t getting any. And – let me take everyone out of their perfect little bubbles for a second – there is a need to say “men who have sex with men” instead of gay because there are a WILD amount of men who don’t consider or classify themselves as gay but have sex with men. And then go home to their wives and families. Also Jan, HIV diagnosis have overtaken those in gay men this year – so WE will need to ask YOU to stop being front butt pirates with random people for just one second. K?
I am a man and have sex with men but identify as straight. Straight as a rainbow. #pride
Lmao, ok “Alphabet Mafia”
You will take my butt piracy from me over my cold, dead body.
Your comment is so inappropriate, what does it mean that babies are getting it? Does it mean those babies are butt pirates as you are calling us? What planet do you live on woman? Anyone can it. And when YOU get it doll remember how stupid your comment was and is.
I am 1000000% sure I will not get it, since I don’t pillage and plunder other men’s butts on grindr
Jan,…I think you need to get your head out of your
butt, and get the facts. The sewage hole between your legs has affected your brain.
Semantics and Political correctness are once again endangering lives. The point is that this epidemic is being spread 99% by men having sex with other men in a non monogamous way. It doesn’t matter if you call them M4M, LGBT, or BLT, it’s all the same as far as the reality is concerned about who is spreading it and how—it’s being spread by men having sex with men promiscuously. There’s many gay monogamous couples who have no need to fear this disease and therefore no one can rationalize blame them. People are more worried about stigma than they are about a life threatening reckless lifestyle that is more a death style. Why aren’t bathhouses and sex clubs being shut down? That was what happened 40 years ago with AIDS and many idiots haven’t learned a damned thing from that. They refused to shut down the bathhouses in the early days of aids and they’re refusing to shut them down now even temporarily and it is the equivalent of people in the Covid era refusing to avoid large indoor gatherings, refusing to wear a mask, refusing to social distance.
As a PAX, I was wiping down the surfaces around me with a disinfecting wipe prior to COVID. Looks a little awkward, but you have no idea who has sat in that seat before you.
To your comment on whether we can say “gay” anymore, “men who have sex with men” doesn’t just include gay men, it includes bisexual men, queer men, and trans men (and none of them may identify as “gay”). If you want to go even further, it also includes straight sex workers who have sex with men but also aren’t gay. Don’t know why an inclusive acronym is worth the snarky comment. 🙂
Gay does not simply mean a man who is ONLY attracted to men, it means a sexual or romantic attraction to people of one’s same sex. That includes bisexual men, queer men, and trans men.
Right, but even if we use that definition, the attraction isn’t what puts you at risk; the sex does. For example, I’m a bisexual man in a monogamous relationship with a woman. I’m included in your definition of “gay,” but — correctly, since I’m not at high risk — excluded from “men who have sex with men, especially multiple partners.”
It’s almost like the WHO is choosing the clearest language for public health reasons.
Just want to echo everything Ryan has said. Matthew, I’m a longtime and daily reader of your blog, just want to point out that your blog’s name “Live And Let’s Fly” implies unconditional respect . . . this is why, no, you can’t just say “gay”. As Ryan pointed out, the MSM community is not exclusively gay men. Inclusive and informed language is a key way to drive progress. Thank you for your understanding.
aka gay
I heard that if you say “gay” in florida you go to prison. Lots of people are telling me this.
That’s lefty fear mongering their lowinfo voters eat it up.
That’s why Disney lost their tax breaks. Because they said “gay” and DeSantis couldn’t handle it. Such small government freedom down there in floriduh
Yeah child grooming in schools is bad.
Sorry if u have sex with men u r gay period. Stop yrying to find ways to deny what u r. Doesn’t matter how u identify or not. U r wgat u r theres no changing it. So cut ur weak a$$ crybaby sh!t. IF U HAVE SEX WITH NEN THEN U R GAY! Get the F over it!
If you pitch and/or catch from a guy, and you are a guy, you are gay. Plain and simple.
Conversion therapy can’t do more harm than what gays do to themselves, and in turn to us by spreading all these viruses.
Did HIV spread because a gay had sex with a monkey or ate bushmeat? I think sex with a monkey seems more plausible given their behavior.
Matthew, I get that you value free speech…but the marketplace of ideas becomes an unpleasant place to spend time when the produce is this rotten.
Public health professionals have used the term “men who have sex with men [MSM]” for decades. It addresses the behavior rather than the identity of the individual. It is not political correctness; it describes modes of transmission.
Its a gay disease
And the crippling mental condition that you suffer from known as Trumpitis…that’s caused by what?
Lol,…another Clampett!
I’ll leave the joking to Bill Maher next time. I meant no disrespect to anyone.
As much as I love to travel by air.. I’ve put myself on stop mode until this world calms down. I’m very worried about September-March 2023. I hope I’m wrong. As for monkeypox and men? Generally speaking men will unzip or remove their trousers, if the situation is favourable to them, the location is safe and respect is mutual. You no longer need to be gay/queer to have sex with another man.
The average gay man has over 1000 partners in his life. Of course they are going to spread this, they are willing to stick it in a hole between booths for whomever is on the other side. I have no problem declaring this an emergency but then, like Covid, we need to shut down adult book stores and bathhouses where this is being spread. Also known gay bars unless they order food with their beer, just like was done with Covid. Of course that made no sense either.
Yea, except the average gay man having “1000 partners” in their lifetime is completely made up. According to a University of Chicago survey of 12,000 people, a “typical” gay guy has 11 sexual partners in their lifetime with 52% having between 0-10 partners in their lifetime (link: https://medium.com/@neuropsychology/gay-promiscuity-statistics-partners-45fc370c0ca5). If you think that’s a lot, then (1) I’m sorry you can’t get laid and (2) if you can laid, I feel sorry for whoever you’re having mediocre sex with.
United’s memo warned that monkeypox is spread by cuddling.
So flight attendants hug and cuddle?
United warns:
“There are a few important points to remember. Monkeypox is not known to linger in the air and is not transmitted during short periods of shared airspace. It does not spread easily between people; however, anyone in close contact with a person with monkeypox can get it and should take steps to protect themselves.”
Some expert should identify what “short periods of airspace” means. If a man or a woman is sitting next to a passenger who has monkeypox (or even covid for that matter) on a cross country or transatlantic flight is that considered a short period of time? Because that infected airspace isn’t going to just search for a male who has sex with males to infect. It’s gonna go to whoever’s near.
On an unrelated, somewhat related note: Unknowingly I had covid which I believe I acquired during or prior to the July 4th weekend. On Monday July 5th, I had just the sorest of throats, which I attributed to going from air-conditioned indoor spaces to the hot, outdoor Southern California air. My muscles ached also, but I attributed that to working out in the gym for 2 to 4 hours a day. Carried on my week as usual, going shopping, gym, 2 theater events and out to dinner. On Saturday, July 9th, while moving things in the kitchen, I came across our stock pile of covid at home test kits. I said to my husband, “As a joke, I should take one of these covid tests.” I honestly expected it to come out as negative, but it was positive. So I stayed home for 5 days, got on paxlovid and then tested negative on the 14th, which was good because I had a flight to catch on the 15th. But on my flight across country, there was a good amount of people without masks on coughing, sneezing and I saw a few passengers wiping their dripping noses with their hands. You can’t tell me they weren’t spreading something.
That’s a pretty gross picture and it is not always that someone has those gross pustules on their skin. And you don’t have to be Black to get it. Monkeypox may have very few outward symptoms with no skin lesions at all. It can resemble mosquito bites, which I had when I went to Mexico (and who knows, was that Monkeypox?) It is transmitted by surface and skin contact. It can be transmitted by airborne droplets, or by someone who coughs. SO BACK TO WEARING YOUR MASKS! Seriously. I’m a nurse working in a hospital. Also, WASH YOUR HANDS AND ARMS ALL THE TIME.
My wife told me to not go to Equinox to avoid getting monkeypox because she follows mainstream news that won’t just be honest to avoid offending libs. I said I will be fine cause I’m not there having sex with dudes.
Ah, yes…you just go elsewhere to have sex with dudes. Like airport bathrooms stalls. You closet cases never offend libs They just laugh at how pathetic you are.
Gays are defective just like you libs.
MSM is the terminology used in Healthcare now!
Better warn Lucky 🙂
Don’t forget TPG, though we don’t know if doing huge amounts of coke in public prevents you from getting it.
Did TPG reject your job application? You seam to have an irrational hatred of them.
FWIW – TPG had a good piece about how unlikely you are to get it while traveling
Him, not them. Calling Brian TPG
If you can get the pox from other’s clothing or sheets, it goes to say that you can get it from a contaminated airline seat. What are airlines going to do now?
I heard smallpox might make its way back. THAT would be a health disaster.
By far, far the best way to avoid monkey pox is not to have promiscuous deviate sex with strangers. If you don’t do that, your chances of getting monkey pox will be essentially zero.
Can gays not control themselves?
As far as I’ve been able to tell, even suggesting that homosexuals curb their promiscuous interests is somehow “homophobic”, that is to say, it induces an irrational fear of something that inhibits the afflicted from tending to daily life.
Wow, very disappointed with the disgusting comments being displayed on this post.
Matthew, I know you don’t like to overly curate these comment threads, but many of those being displayed here are completely homophobic and derogatory.
I’m very disappointed you have let these remain in the public domain for your readers to see. These comments are not relevant to the topics you cover and serve no purpose other than to spread disparaging and hurtful content. I urge you to reconsider curating your comments in this regard, especially since these could be viewed by younger and less resilient readers this could affect.
I am also very disappointed that it appears that these are the views that quite a number of your readers hold.
Comments that are uncomfortable truth that you don’t want to hear? This is on the gay males and their actions, sorry if you would rather scare everyone instead of admitting how it is being spread.
Play in garbage dumps, get silly “diseases”
I share the sentiment of your last sentence. I still believe that in the marketplace of ideas, the truth will ultimately prevail.
They are not homophobic. I am for equal marriage protection. But we are not talking about two gays as a happy family with adopted kids. Stop playing the victim card to justify deviant behavior thats is affecting/ costing the rest of us.
In the other news sinema in the Senate agreed to support Biden’s climate bill if the carrier interest tax loophole for billionaires is is protected. Sinema happens to be openly gay. If protecting billionaire tax loophole is on the top of the mind of a gay person in Senate, please stop bullshitting about how gays are victimized and oppressed. I am fed with professional perpetual victims guild cimprised of a few known classes.
What about freedom? If covid taught us anything is that we don’t have a right to be free from disease and those that spread disease have the right to do so as they please. If so called deviant behavior spreads monkeypox or airborne aids or the virus from walking dead then oh well… that’s the price of freedom
Why does people think it’s only gay men who get monkeypox.then your not telling me that the children who have come down with it are gay. It can spread by people who swing both ways, and don’t have the sense to take off their sheets or bedding or shower before touching other people. Its like those who didn’t wash their hands or wear mask during covid. Pleople STOP THINKING OF ONLY YOURSELF, AND THINK OF OTHERS!!
A disproportionate amount of child molesters are lgbt. We shouldn’t rule out they possibilty that kids that are infected were molested.
Because between 95 and 98% of all people who have monkeypox are males who got it from gay sex. Those five children likely were molested/raped.
Females and anyone who does not engage in homosexual male sex do not need to get vaccinated and do not need to spend even a moment worrying about catching it.
How?
The truth is that gays are spreading this just like hiv.