Monkeypox on LI: Four cases in Suffolk, three in Nassau

Greg McMullen, a Manhattanite who rents in Fire Island’s gay vacation community of Cherry Grove, got the monkeypox shot because he’s in an open relationship with his partner of 31 years, Steven Sandoval, who also got the shot.

Paul Short, of Queens, is monogamous with his husband, but got the shot because, Short explained, he works in nightclubs where “everyone’s always very huggy.”

And Gabriel Aponte of the Bronx got the shot because of skyrocketing cases of monkeypox among gay men, as well as “situations where there can be multiple sexual partners.”

Particularly after Pride month in June, “there’s a lot of high-risk environments where monkeypox can easily spread, so I think it’s just important to get vaccinated,” said Aponte, 30.  

McMullen, Sandoval, Short and Aponte were among Suffolk's first to get the scarce vaccine, which began going into arms Thursday on Fire Island, from the 750 vials the state sent to the county last week. And starting Friday, appointments will begin in the nearby Pines, another community with a large gay population. 

Nassau's appointments began Wednesday, the first day the vaccines — the county got 400 vials — were made available there.

State-set eligibility criteria includes those who have been exposed to monkeypox in the prior two weeks, as well as men who have had recently had sex with multiple, or anonymous, male sex partners, or who are otherwise at risk.

According to the state Health Department website, New York has 414 confirmed monkeypox cases — including 389 in New York City, four in Suffolk and three in Nassau after the county reported two new cases Thursday.

Nearly 3,000 more doses are on the way to Long Island, the department said Tuesday.

Appointments on Fire Island, which all were booked up within 90 minutes of becoming available Monday, continue through Sunday at the Grove and in the Pines. Those without appointments are being turned away.

Nationwide, there’s a vaccine shortage as the case count keeps going up, almost exclusively among men who have sex with men.

"It's one more thing we're worrying about right now. I know it wasn't a concern until just recently. I've been hearing stories from friends about people contracting it, and it can be pretty nasty, and I just want to avoid that," McMullen, 64, said, a Band-Aid on his arm from the shot.

He said that the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the outbreak of monkeypox, has led the couple to curb their ordinary sexual practices.

"We both have a lot of sex with other people when we can, although we haven't for the last three years because of COVID,” he said.

The second dose of the two-dose vaccine regimen is administered four weeks after the first.

Monkeypox is spread mostly by prolonged skin-to-skin contact with lesions. The state has said it allocated a bigger share of the vaccines to Suffolk than anywhere outside of the city because of concern over Fire Island.

On the ferry dock in Sayville en route to Fire Island and posted in Cherry Grove are multicolored posters from the state Health Department about monkeypox: “Protect your community and the people you party or play with. Know the signs and symptoms.” 

Kyle Remhild, 29, of Bushwick, Brooklyn, was visiting Cherry Grove Thursday and walked by the path leading to the vaccine clinic. He wondered aloud whether more appointments were available, having tried unsuccessfully, three times, to book online for the city's supply.

"Unfortunately, every time we go on the server crashes," said Remhild, adding: "I'm hoping to get one out here — eventually."

His experience is common; appointments have booked up there within minutes.

Later Thursday, the city health department said the next round of appointments would be available starting at 6 p.m. Friday via vax4nyc.nyc.gov/monkeypox.

Although anyone can get the virus, globally, like in the United States, an overwhelming majority of cases in the current outbreak have been in men who have sex with men. The epidemiologist Dr. Jay Varma, who served as Mayor Bill de Blasio's top COVID-19 adviser, estimates that number is 98% or 99% of all cases. The state, city and CDC are not releasing that figure.

“It’s something I’ve never seen before,” Varma said.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.