It’s easy to understand why President Joe Biden has said cases of monkeypox in Europe and the United States are something “to be concerned about.” After all, hindsight made it easy to criticize the failure to take seriously and act quickly on COVID-19.

But Biden added the concern would be if monkeypox was actually to spread after the initial outbreak was identified in Massachusetts. It is a known disease, rarely found outside Africa, and it already has a vaccine. Most people recover in less than a month without needing to be hospitalized.

WYSO near Dayton asked a few Ohio experts about the outbreak, and their words are reassuring.

“Monkeypox isn’t that easy to spread, compared to smallpox or chickenpox or some of the other pox viruses,” said Dr. Amy Edwards, an infections disease specialist at University Hospitals.

But the first monkeypox case has been identified in Ohio. This is something we now must take more seriously.

“We have vaccine available to be deployed for that purpose,” Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said when asked about its spread.

While monkeypox seems, for now, not to be another crisis, it’s important to stay up-to-date.