Thanks for sharing this vitally important information, and I am sorry that you had to go through this. You are spot on when you say that the government has an "abhorrent track record" when it comes to dealing with LGBTQ+ health issues. It is easy to cite the many ways that it has failed us. I, for example, was mentally ill for the first 20 years of my life (until, that is, the American Psychiatric Association passed a resolution acknowledging that being gay is not a form of insanity, miraculously and instantly curing millions of people, including me).
That being the case, I think it is also important to point out when government actually works well. This may be especially true here in Hawai'i. Due, perhaps, to our semitropical climate, our bureaucrats have a reputation for being, shall we say, a bit laid back. But not, I am happy to say, when it comes to monkeypox.
Near the end of May, I attended a private party in Honolulu. This party was sponsored by a social group that primarily serves gay males. The group had suspended all social events for the preceding two years, so the mood was celebratory: we had all survived the pandemic! We knew, of course, that COVID was still with us, but it no longer seemed to be as threatening or as deadly. And almost no one was thinking about monkeypox, which had yet to be diagnosed in our state. But that was about to change.
In early June, Hawai'i had its first case of monkeypox. The patient had recently been on the mainland, where he had apparently contracted it ... and brought it back to the islands. He had also attended the party at the end of May, and within days four more men had been diagnosed. All had been at the same party. The good news: within two weeks of the event, our local health department had secured an adequate amount of vaccine to inoculate everyone who attended the party, and had sent a notification to all of us. On June 11th, which was not only a Saturday but also a state holiday (Kamehameha Day, honoring the king who united the islands) health department staff were at work, vaccinating and providing information to all of those they had been able to reach.
Health care personnel have taken it on the chin over the past couple of years. Overwhelmed by the first wave of COVID-19 patients, they often found themselves to be political targets, with their knowledge belittled and their advice scorned. Our health department, in this instance, moved swiftly and sensitively--and probably prevented an unknown number of new infections. I am happy to give them a well-deserved shout-out.
