Mpox outbreak: Mpox, or Monkeypox, is a disease caused by infection with a virus and is a part of the smallpox family. The main symptom is a painful and itchy rash that may appear to be pimples and can spread all over a person’s body. Other symptoms can include fever, swollen lymph nodes, and muscle aches. Most people develop symptoms within 21 days of exposure to the virus. Flu-like symptoms begin first, then a rash develops one to four days later. Mpox was first discovered in 1958 in a colony of monkeys and then in humans in Congo in 1970. Then in 2022, right before the COVID-19 pandemic ended, it started spreading rapidly through Europe and the rest of the world. After a decrease, new cases began to spike this year. Mpox was declared as a public health emergency this August.
Significance: The Mpox spread in 2024 was notable because it was a new strain of the virus that is harder to detect ultimately causing it to spread more rapidly. The virus reached many countries where it had not been seen before including African countries it hadn’t been seen before in. This fueled global panic about the virus and whether it would cause a worldwide shutdown similar to the COVID-19 shutdown. However experts state that there is no reason to panic as unlike the Covid-19 pandemic, scientists are familiar with Mpox and there is a vaccine available that is being distributed to high-risk regions.
Hurricane Helene: Hurricane Helene struck late September across the southern region of the United States. Its path of destruction spans over 800 miles all the way from Florida to the Southern Appalachians. This hurricane is a category 4 storm with winds up to 60 miles per hour. Helene brings heavy rainfall, flash flooding and dangerous landslides to the regions it passes through. Climate change has increased the environmental circumstances that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly building in warm waters and transforming into powerful cyclones in a matter of hours.
Significance: Even with evacuations starting before the storm, many people remained stranded during the storm. The death toll is 130 and still climbing. Rescue teams are still finding people as 100’s more are still missing. Survivors are facing a massive power outage as almost 2.5 million homes and businesses in the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida and Virginia are without power. The intensity of the storm caused massive destruction and now many people in those regions are left homeless with nowhere to go. Many communities are now scrambling to find temporary housing options while they begin rebuilding.
