"This declaration means that local health departments engaged in response and prevention activities will be able to access additional state reimbursement, after other federal and state funding sources are maximized, to protect all New Yorkers and ultimately limit the spread of monkeypox in our communities," said State Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett in a news release.
In a separate statement, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the declaration would mobilize resources and accelerate emergency planning.
California State Sen. Scott Wiener cited several benefits to declaring the emergency, including expanded testing and vaccines, as well as applying pressure to the federal government to take the outbreak more seriously.
"It's a powerful declaration to the country and the world about the need to act decisively and strongly," Wiener told the Washington Post.
"Ultimately, we cannot vaccinate and treat our way out of monkeypox," Malani said. "Prevention is critical."
Though the World Health Organization has declared monkeypox a public health emergency, the United States is still weighing whether to declare monkeypox a national public health emergency.
But U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra noted Thursday that the Biden administration is sending vaccines.
"We will weigh any decision on declaring a public health emergency based off the response we're seeing throughout the country," Becerra told reporters at a media briefing. "Bottom line is: We need to stay ahead of this and be able to end this outbreak."
Monkeypox has a long incubation period, she said. After an initial exposure, it can be weeks before symptoms develop. An early heads-up from a robust contact tracing effort could help people exposed to monkeypox isolate and seek tests or vaccines before symptoms appear.
While the outbreak has mostly infected gay and men, gay leaders and HIV activists have urged health officials to not minimize the suffering of gay men, as was done during the early days of the AIDS crisis.
WHO officials have advised that gay men temporarily reduce their number of partners, but the recent New York and San Francisco declarations did not.
"We are not implementing behavior restrictions or other measures like we did under COVID. This is all about having the resources and ability to move quickly to deploy these resources," Breed said in a Medium post explaining the emergency.
The monkeypox outbreak arrived at a time when public awareness of infectious disease is high, experts pointed out. The COVID pandemic has made Americans familiar with public health concepts like isolation, rapid testing and contact tracing.
Among the greatest needs now are vaccines, which are effective both before and right after exposure to the virus. A smallpox antiviral can also help treat monkeypox.
The virus most often spreads through prolonged physical contact. it can spread through physical contact, or by handling clothes or bedding used by an infected person. The disease can also spread via respiratory droplets.
The Biden administration announced this week that federal officials have cleared 800,000 more doses for distribution.
More than 70 countries have reported more than 18,000 cases in the current monkeypox outbreak.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on monkeypox.
SOURCES: Washington Post, New York State Department of Health news release, July 28, 2022; city and county of San Francisco, news release, July 28, 2022
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