The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) and New Orleans Health Department (NOHD) are partnering this weekend with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to host the Southern Decadence Health Center, which will provide smallpox monkeys and free COVID-19. vaccinations and other health services.
The Wellness Center will be located at the main North Rampart Street entrance of Louis Armstrong Park (801 N. Rampart St.), conveniently located near the French Quarter where many Southern Decadence events and activities will take place. The site will be open between 11am and 5pm starting Thursday, September 1st and running through the end of Southern Decadence on Labor Day (September 5th). The Health Hub will offer a variety of health resources, including a syringe exchange service, naloxone and fentanyl testing strips as available.
Providing monkeypox vaccines during the Southern Decadence is part of LDH and NOHD’s public health strategy aimed at keeping people safe and healthy before and during major events, and is made possible by additional vaccine allocations from CDC in advance the event. The two-pronged strategy deployed on the eve of Southern Decadence has featured both large events, such as the Vaxxtravaganza held on August 24, and smaller, more focused events held in bars and other trusted community venues.
Full protection from a monkeypox vaccine occurs 14 days after the second dose, which is administered 28 days after the first dose. That’s why it’s important for Southern Decadence attendees to consider taking extra precautions to stay safer, protect others, and prevent the spread of the virus.
Monkeypox can spread to anyone through close, personal contact, often skin-to-skin, including:
- Direct contact with a monkeypox rash, sores, or scab from a person with monkeypox
- Contact with objects, fabrics (clothes, bedding or towels) and surfaces that have been used by someone with monkeypox
- Contact with respiratory secretions, through kissing and other face-to-face contact
This contact can occur in certain social and sexual situations, including:
- Hugs, massages and kisses
- Oral, anal and vaginal sex or touching the genitals (penis, testicles, labia and vagina) or anus (back) of a person with monkeypox
- Touching fabrics and objects that have been used by a person with monkeypox and that have not been disinfected, such as bedding, towels, fetish equipment, and sex toys
People are encouraged to share contact information with partners to help trace contacts in the event of a monkeypox case.
To understand more about the risk of different activities, please see the chart below.
sources
- The New Orleans Health Department will hold their monkeypox website updated with information about event participants, including a resource guide which will include sites for monkeypox vaccination, monkeypox testing, monkeypox treatment and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing.
- CDC recommendationfor safer sex, social gatherings and monkeypox
- LDH monkeypox Web page
