Monkeypox statistics: Tracking the outbreak in NYC and beyond

Welcome to Gothamist’s monkeypox statistics page!

• New cases are thankfully low and approaching zero, so we've made the last text update to this page for the time being. But we’ll keep the charts up-to-date for reference.
• Cases have declined steeply in New York City. Health providers are diagnosing just a handful of new cases per day, down from 70-plus at the peak in July.
• As of early October, vaccine disparities persisted, particularly for Black New Yorkers, who made up almost a third of the eligible population but had gotten just 13% of the shots.

In May of this year, New York City identified its first case of monkeypox, an infectious disease caused by the virus of the same name. Two months later, the region became the epicenter of monkeypox in the United States, prompting city officials to declare the outbreak a public health emergency. Since then, though, new cases have slowed as vaccinations soared.

During this episode, the city has weathered vaccine shortages, technical hiccups with health websites and alleged retribution in the health department as it adds yet another public health threat to its already overloaded plate. Because the current outbreak has mainly affected LGBTQ+ New Yorkers, it’s exposing preexisting gaps in the health care system that often serves this community. The virus may also be reshaping the definition of a sexually transmitted infection.

The good news is that city, state and federal governments are all sharing some form of monkeypox data. We’ll compile the most useful datasets here to help you keep track of the outbreak and stay safe.

The charts, tables and maps on this page refresh with the latest data daily or weekly. We’ve stopped updating the text now that New York’s outbreak has slowed down, but we’ll pick back up if cases tick up again. The last text update happened on October 6th.

Want different metrics on this page? Please send any questions or comments to [email protected].

As of early October, New Yorkers could only get tested for monkeypox at their doctor’s office or an urgent care, so the city’s case total was almost certainly an undercount. But the data we do have showed that positive tests peaked in late July at around 70 cases per day on average. They’ve since declined to just 8 new infections per day.

Anyone can get monkeypox, but the current outbreak has overwhelmingly affected gay and bisexual men. The city has also recorded a handful of cases among cisgender women, as well as transgender and nonbinary New Yorkers.

People in the LGBTQ+ community are less likely than other New Yorkers to have a regular primary care provider, making it harder for them to get tested and treated for monkeypox.

New York City has prioritized communities currently at higher risk for the virus in its rollout of the JYNNEOS vaccine for monkeypox, which was in extremely short supply at the outbreak’s start.

The eligible people must meet all of the following criteria:

• Gay, bisexual, or other man who has sex with men, and/or transgender, gender-nonconforming, or nonbinary
• Age 18 or older
• Have had multiple or anonymous sex partners in the last 14 days

Vaccines are also available to sex workers and close contacts of people who’ve tested positive for monkeypox.

Toward the end of summer 2022, the city switched to a new method for administering the vaccine, which stretched the supply but required special training and supplies.

City data suggested that Black New Yorkers are undervaccinated compared to their share of the at-risk population. In late August, the city promised $5 million to community groups to help close this gap.

As of early October, California and New York led the nation in monkeypox cases. But Florida, Texas and other populous states were also contending with outbreaks.