When it only effects Gays, it doesn't seem to be a serious concern with Dallas County Health. Update: Some recommendations implemented.
My presentation before the Dallas County Commissioners and lack of response.
UPDATE: A few of my recommendations were implemented. Link to new report at the very end of this post.
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I maybe wrong and I will have an update if there is improvement in Dallas County Health reporting on monkeypox, but my presentation wasn’t taken seriously and though I was referred to Dr. Philip Huang, head of Dallas County Health, after my presentation, but it wasn’t to take my concerns seriously, but it appears it was for Dr. Elba Garcia to look like she was doing something.
I had arrived at a little after 9:00 am and gave to a Commissioners’ Court official my folder with the documentation, but when I started to speak about 12:30 pm, it hadn’t been handed out and so they couldn’t follow with the graphs my speech. I can’t say it was intentional or just discourteous.
I did talk to Dr. Huang, but since I don’t have it recorded I am not going to make statements about what he said. I will say that in my opinion is was a conversation of misdirection and evasions and I don’t feel that it is possible to have a credible conversation with him.
Of course there is the possibility that some things or one thing I proposed might be done by Dallas County Health, but I am extremely doubtful that anything will. I will next week mail a copy of this post along with a letter making a formal request by certified mail to all members.
For those who might not think this is important, consider that if monkeypox continues to be a problem into 2023 how this will start shutting down Gay social venues. Right now people are thinking it is going to be over soon, but if it drags out, places will close.
The Presentation
I am going to quote my presentation which was severely abbreviated to be within the allowed 3 minutes time. My folder handed out to each of them had a copy of my presentation, a paper with more information supporting my speech, and the pages from an earlier post about anti-Gay Christian right winger Jim Denison making an issue of monkey pox.
Introduction
The opening of my presentation was:
There are problems and a lack of transparency with the reporting regarding monkeypox on the Dallas County Health webpage.
Discussing the graphing on the Dallas County Health monkeypox webpage.
The Problem With the Graphs
The following is what I said, but you can skip it and go to the section in the report with the graphs. It will be much easier to understand. I put this part of my presentation in for the record.
Figure A shows how it is currently plotted with a very small footnote stating that recent data may not be complete. However, despite that, the seven-day rolling average is plotted right to the end of the graph. The rolling average through the recent points gives a misleading impression that the pandemic is improving more rapidly than it is.
Figures B & C show that for one date the count goes from 8 to 25 in a week as the data for that date comes in. The area of likely incomplete data should not have a rolling average and should be shaded to alert the viewer.
Figure D is my cumulative plot of the date initially from news reports and then Dallas County Health. The issue of unreported data tends to be canceled. You can see three regions, an initial exponential phase, a phase when new cases where 12 new cases per day and then more recently where it is about 5 cases per day. There has been progress, but the pandemic is still on going. Representing it as coming to an end would be wrong.
PAGE ONE FROM MY REPORT GIVEN TO THE COMMISSIONERS COURT
This graph was from the https://www.dallascounty.org/departments/dchhs/monkeypox.php Screen captured 10/1/2022.
Looking at the tiny footnote on the lower left you see that the recent data may not be complete. Yet, the 7-day rolling average is plotted to the very last point! This creates a false impression that the Monkeypox pandemic is rapidly coming to an end. The footnote is very likely going to be missed by viewers. Further the region of incomplete data should be shaded or marked as such.
PAGE TWO FROM MY REPORT - SHOWING HOW RUNNING SEVEN DAY AVERAGE TO THE END IS MISLEADING.
These graphs show how the plotting misrepresents the situation.
Screen shot taken on 8/26/2022.
Screen shot from Aug. 30, 2022
PAGE THREE SHOWING THAT THERE HAS BEEN PROGRESS, BUT ONLY PARTIAL
Given the issue of late reported data the cumulative plot can offer insights. The issue of late data tends to cancel out.
Lack of information about how many vaccinations have been done.
The handed out report goes more in depth why I brought up these issues. You can skip to PAGE 4 IN MY REPORT.
There is the issue of the lack of vital information on the monkeypox page.
1. There needs to be the total cumulative vaccinations so we can know the progress of vaccinating the MSM.
2. The number of weekly vaccinations given and plotted.
3. Whether there was a short fall of vaccinations given versus requested.
4. The justification for current restrictions needs to be posted.
There are many individuals who will not want to report their sexual activity regardless of assurances of confidentially, but if they show up for vaccination, they very likely need it.
PAGE FOUR IN MY REPORT
Transparency for the Dallas County Health Dept.
This reduction shouldn’t be considered a great victory. Two major Gay events have been cancelled and it is likely more accomplished by the shut-down of Gay life than vaccination. Vaccination might be a factor but due to the lack of reporting and transparency of the Dallas County Health Dept. page on monkeypox we are not given data to make an informed assessment, we are being left in the dark.
The following is the additional information that should be reported on the page.
1. Total cumulative vaccinations given. The monkeypox pandemic is going to be coming to an end as result of the population of MSM being mostly vaccinated instead of Gay life being shut down.
2. Vaccine Shortage. How many vaccinations done each week as well as information whether there were people who weren’t able to be vaccinated though qualified under current criteria due to the lack of vaccine.
That is whether Dallas County was short the amount of vaccine it needed. If short an explanation should be given whether it was due to Dallas County Health not asking for enough vaccine or due to the federal government’s allocation.
3. Justification for the current requirements for vaccination.
We need to know if the current requirements for monkeypox vaccination are because there is a shortage of vaccine or misguided policy of Dallas County Health.
A great many MSM will not want an official record of their sexual activity in Dallas County Health records regardless of any assertion of confidentially. If there is no shortage of vaccine, then anyone who shows up to get vaccinated should be considered as very likely needing it.
Anti-Gay Christian attacking Gays over monkeypox. PAGE FOUR CHRISTIANS section following has links to these attacks. I have a link to a previous report about it and a link to Jim Denison’s tweet. In the folders I had a printout from the Dallas Gay Liberation report on Jim Denison included to give background information. Substack pulls up tweets and includes them in a post, but the tweet was only shown once as Figure E in the report.
Already, Jim Denison, of whose organization Dallas City Council member Cara Mendelsohn had as an invocation speaker, quickly sought to exploit the issue of monkeypox.
PAGE FOUR
Monkeypox being used by Christians to attack Gays.
Jim Denison of Denisonforum.org in May 2022 starts using monkeypox to attack Gays. (Copy of his online post and his tweet is included with your package.} It might be thought to dismiss this as fringe, but a staff member of his organization was invited to give an invocation at the Dallas City County by Cara Mendelsohn, District 12, on 8/24/2022. These are links to Jim Denison’s monkeypox post and the report about a Denisonforum speaker at a Dallas City Council meeting.
PAGE 5 OF REPORT - SCREEN CAPTURE
Monkeypox prevent failure for minorities
I show a screen capture of that section. Seems that minority segments aren’t being reached.
Given the ethnicity of reported cases, it really needs to be asked how the MSM was alerted.
PAGE FIVE OF THE REPORT RACIAL DISPARITIES.
Gays aren’t be blamed
The report in the enclosure when over this more in detail. In particular
As reported by the authoritative Nature magazine the cause of this pandemic is gross neglected by the medical establishment and not the Gay community.
PAGE SIX ON BLAMING GAYS FOR MONKEYPOX
Blaming Gays
The very prestigious Nature magazine has an excellent article about how African scientists have been warning the Western world about monkeypox for decades and no action has been taken.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01686-z
Also, it was known that smallpox vaccination was a protection against monkeypox, yet no contingency planning was in place for the risk of the Western world not being immunized for monkeypox when smallpox vaccination was discontinued in the 1980s.
Gays pay taxes, have health needs, and the health establishment has failed and Gays are the victims of this failure.
Final Demand.
Cases maybe reduced, but it is due to the shutdown of Gay life and the cancellation of events. It isn’t a victory if monkeypox is controlled not by vaccination, but by the shutdown of Gay social life.
There needs to be immediate improvement by Dallas County Health in reporting on monkeypox. Gay events are being shut down and this needs to be taken seriously.
PAGE 6 CONCLUSION
I list what should be done.
CONCLUSION
We need to have Dallas County Health: (1) better report case # data; (2) keep the public fully informed as to the progress of the vaccination campaign: (3) address racial disparities in its effectiveness in stopping the monkeypox pandemic.
Further, (4) qualifying restrictions should be eliminated as soon as possible.
(5) There should be published the current plan to aggressively end this pandemic.
More reporting to come.
Will be reporting on the response to my presentation next week. I am going to give them sometime to respond. Not hopeful, but I have to give them a chance.
