Just when you thought we were finally getting closer to a post-pandemic status. Boom. Monkeypox comes knocking at our door. A few cases have been confirmed in the Hudson Valley area, including two in Orange County and one in Sullivan. A few days ago the World Health Organization (WHO) officially labeled it as “a public health emergency of international concern.”

Monkeypox is a member of the smallpox family and exhibits similar symptoms. While this disease has been known to African countries for decades, this current outbreak was initially found in Europe. It has now spread to Canada, the US and at least 53 other countries across Europe and central Asia, according to the WHO. But while death is possible, so far only five have been reported worldwide this year. The key thing to note is that while COVID-19 was a “novel” virus, a new version of an old thing (SARs), monkeypox has been around since the 1950s.

Symptoms of monkeypox are like a lot of viruses, with fever, fatigue, headache, and enlarged lymph nodes. Eventually a rash develops, usually on the face first and then the hands and palms, arms, legs, and other body parts. The rash can develop into tiny blisters, like the chickenpox, and then grow larger. The disease can lead to pneumonia, which can be hard to fight for the elderly or infants. The main cause of death is sepsis, which is essentially the body’s extreme response to a severe infection. According to the CDC, without timely treatment, sepsis can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death.

Despite what social media reports might say, monkeypox is also not a virus relegated to gay people. Anyone can get it. The infection can start through animal transmission — a bite, a scratch, or consuming undercooked meat from an infected animal. Once it’s made its way into your respiratory system, it can then begin to spread through “face-to-face contact,” like kissing or cuddling. It can also spread through direct contact of the rash, scabs or body fluids; by touching items previously exposed to an infectious rash or body fluid; or from a pregnant person to a fetus via the placenta. The CDC says monkeypox can spread from the moment symptoms occur and until the rash has fully healed and a new layer of skin has formed. The illness typically lasts two to four weeks. It is not considered a sexually transmitted disease and is not known to spread through semen or vaginal fluids, per the CDC.

So unlike COVID, where anyone with even a slight cough could get you infected, you’re most likely going to know who does and doesn’t have monkeypox, and will be better able to avoid transmission.

As theses viruses pop up, they act as a reminder that we should really be mindful of our own actions. Our society always benefits when we act with each other’s best interests in mind, as a community should. When it comes to the spread of diseases, that could mean wearing a mask if you are sick, even with a cold, or keeping your distance from people in the supermarket. It could mean encouraging employees to work remotely when sick, so as not to infect other staff members. It could mean covering your face when you sneeze, not crowding strangers in line at the pharmacy or while waiting for the bus. It could mean not touching every surface area, piece of fruit, item of clothing you come across in public settings, like at, say, a blueberry festival.

These are all things that we probably would do without question, if we remembered to actually do them. And therein lines the main issue. We have to remember to be mindful, to be aware of our proximity to others and of our own health.

Given the general infection and death rate of monkeypox, this’ll most likely come and go, as it has many times before. It doesn’t appear to want to reach the level of COVID-19. And it is mostly likely only in the news because we are still in the throes of COVID and are hyper sensitive to anything that could continue to upend our way of life, particularly anything infectious and widespread.

If we can refrain from swapping spit with infectious strangers, give people room to breathe, and just be aware of our presence in the world and the people around us, we might be able to keep all of these pandemic-inducing viruses behind us. But also: wash your hands, and your feet — that’s just good practice.