Monkeypox Is Hitting Black Communities Hard In Metro Atlanta: ‘Monkeypox Does Not Wait For Anyone’

Monkeypox is hitting the Black community hard, but there is good news, now anyone can get tested for the virus without leaving their car.

A new drive-thru monkeypox testing site has opened on North Druid Hills Road in DeKalb, WSBTV News reported.

The site tests for both the COVID-19 and monkeypox viruses.

Workers at the site say around 25% of the people who showed up Friday came for monkeypox testing.

One-by-one, people drove up and got tested. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are more than 16,000 confirmed monkeypox cases across the nation, with nearly 1,300 cases in Georgia.

Dr. Jayne Morgan, the executive director of the COVID-19 task force at Piedmont Healthcare, said she expects cases to increase.

“What is happening is exactly what we should have expected to happen because we saw this occur in COVID, and we certainly saw this occur in HIV as well,” Morgan said.

Morgan noted infectious agents generally impact populations that have the fewest resources and that are at the most disadvantaged.

She said that factor explains why growing research shows a racial disparity pertaining to new monkeypox cases.

“Here in Georgia, we see about 82% of the monkeypox cases have been in Black men,” Morgan said. “It really depends on whether you have health access and what your resources are.”

Camille Seaton is the first woman in Georgia to contract monkeypox. She said it took about three-and-a-half weeks to recover.

“It’s still all over my body, but the stuff is scarring up and everything,” Seaton said.

She added that it’s important to remember that monkeypox doesn’t discriminate.

“Monkeypox does not wait for anyone,” Seaton said. “It does not care who it attacks.”

People at risk for the virus are urged to get vaccinated.