WASHINGTON, D.C. –  The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued what some are calling an unbelievable warning on Monday that links the current worldwide outbreak of monkeypox to sexual encounters between same-sex human males.

Currently, there are approximately 200 confirmed cases of monkeypox throughout North America and Europe – with the initial two cases of 2022 outside of Africa confirmed in the United Kingdom – which the WHO said can be possibly linked to homosexual sex.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued an alert to gay and bisexual men, saying that monkeypox appears to be spreading in the community globally and urging individuals to take precautions and to be on the lookout for symptoms.

CDC official Dr. John Brooks said that monkeypox can be spread by individuals of any sexual orientation, but noted that the majority of infections globally seems to be afflicting the gay and bisexual communities.

“We want to help people make the best informed decisions to protect their health and the health of their community from monkeypox,” Brooks said.

The United States and Canada each have recorded five cases of monkeypox apiece thus far, but the outbreak has been far more prevalent in Europe, representing the largest spread of the disease on the continent in history.

While monkeypox is not transmitted sexually, it can be spread via “close physical contact” with either a person who has been infected, or by contact with any blankets or sheets that they have used, WHO adviser Andy Seale said.

“Many diseases can be spread through sexual contact,” he said. “You could get a cough or a cold through sexual contact, but it doesn’t mean that it’s a sexually transmitted disease.”

Monkeypox symptoms typically appear similar to the flu, including fever, headache, muscle aches, chills, exhaustion and swollen lymph nodes. Later symptoms include rashes on the face, hands, feet, eyes, mouth or genitals that eventually can become blisters.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – A new Bluetooth-enabled digital coronavirus test, known as “Cue,” is being touted as a fast and efficient way for individuals to test themselves for the virus on a regular basis, as experts are predicting that COVID-19 – despite the current lull in overall infections compared to this period of time last year – is most likely to be here to stay.

Advertising for Cue facetiously shows the device utilizing its Bluetooth connectivity to “communicate” with other smart devices in a person’s home, such as the Amazon Echo and Google Nest; eventually, a young boy who is awaiting his results is shown to be relieved when he tests negative for COVID.

Cue’s website notes that it produces “reliable, easy-to-use COVID-19 tests with PCR-quality results delivered right to your mobile device in 20 minutes. No lab visits. No lines. No second guessing your results.”

However, after Cue administers its molecular COVID-19 test, it will then transmit the results – positive or negative – directly to several state and federal government agencies for record-keeping purposes, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which many of the device’s users may not be aware of.

The “Fact Sheet For Healthcare Professionals” that is included in the Cue’s packaging – which most people probably don’t bother to read – states that “The Cue Health Mobile Application (Cue Health App) automatically reports test results according to the reporting guidelines of the appropriate public health authorities.”

Likewise, Cue’s privacy policy notes that the unit will report a user’s personal information “to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or other federal agency and/or state government agencies as required for public health surveillance and related purposes.”

But – being a fully-digital platform – Cue also possesses serious potential security vulnerabilities; in April, a researcher discovered one that could allow the recorded tests results to be altered prior to being transmitted; this issue has since been discovered and rectified, but additional problems with securing individual’s private medical records could nonetheless exist.

“Unemployment continues to be higher in places like Flatbush, Brooklyn—my neighborhood—than in the wealthiest parts of the city and state. For my unemployed neighbors and those earning low wages, price increases hit us much, much harder than the richest residents of the Upper East Side who may own two or three homes.”

Another day, another flurry of headlines about inflation. Everywhere we turn, prices are rising. The cost of everything from rent to food to countless other goods and services is going up.

Here in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul is acting as if she’s basically powerless to do anything about these increases in what we have to pay to survive and maintain a basic standard of living.

That’s not just wrong; it’s an abdication of her responsibility to lead in this time of crisis. Many New Yorkers, especially those of us who live in low-income communities of color, are still reeling from the COVID pandemic. Unemployment continues to be higher in places like Flatbush, Brooklyn—my neighborhood—than in the wealthiest parts of the city and state. For my unemployed neighbors and those earning low wages, price increases hit us much, much harder than the richest residents of the Upper East Side who may own two or three homes.

There’s plenty Gov. Hochul can do to help bring prices down. But first, she must call out what is happening: price gouging. In most cases, these are not fair price hikes, but prices inflated by corporations and others with unchecked power to raise them higher and higher.

In the case of skyrocketing rent increases we’re seeing all over the city, there’s nothing fair or reasonable about a landlord doubling or tripling rent overnight. It’s greed plain and simple. But it can be stopped through passage of good cause eviction legislation. That popular bill, which Hochul should enact immediately, would create a better system in which tenants in unregulated apartments can more easily renew their leases and negotiate fair rent increases.

READ MORE: NYC Tenants Reignite Push for ‘Good Cause’ Eviction Protections, Despite Landlord Opposition

And to fight the biggest corporations that dominate our economy and regularly abuse that dominance, Hochul should quickly pass the 21st Century Anti-Trust Act. Indeed, New York needs substantially tougher and more robust anti-trust tools like this law to fight Amazon and other market-dominating companies whose pricing-to-maximize-profit strategy harms small businesses, consumers, and workers alike. It would enable the New York State Attorney General to investigate and sue major corporations for anti-competitive behavior, including some of the massive price hikes we’re currently seeing. Additionally, it would allow class-action lawsuits to be filed against dominant corporations that abuse their power by unfairly exploiting consumers, workers, and small business competitors, and increase penalties that they face: violators of the 21st Century Anti-Trust Act would be fined $1 million and face Class C felony charges.

All of that may sound harsh, but it’s what we need to force corporations to change how they operate and do business in New York. Currently, many of the biggest companies and retailers here and across the country are raking in record profits—by using inflation as a pretext and justification to keep pushing prices into the stratosphere. As Lindsay Owens of the Groundwork Collaborative recently noted, “Companies that historically might have kept prices low to pick up profit by gaining additional market share are instead using the cover of inflation to raise prices and increase profits. Consumers are now expecting higher prices at the checkout line, and companies are taking advantage. The poor and those on fixed incomes are hit the hardest.”

She knows what she’s talking about. Over the past year, Owens and her colleagues listened to hundreds of earnings calls where corporate executives bragged about their higher profits and how inflation is great for business. These companies are raking in profits, while small businesses are closing or finding it harder to stay afloat.

Without a fair marketplace and fair competition, the biggest corporations set prices and even restrict the supply of what’s available, as we’re seeing right now with the baby formula shortage. Indeed, as David Dayen points out, “The dominant companies claim to be ramping up production to solve the shortage. It should be noted that their incentives run in the other direction, to keep prices high by putting a lid on supply. When you’re a monopolist, you can do that without much trouble.”

Gov. Hochul must take action now to push corporations to lower prices and create an equitable recovery from COVID. It’s what all of us—small businesses, consumers, and workers—need. An economy that limits the power and dominance of corporations is the only economy where entrepreneurs like me can truly grow and thrive.

For nearly 15 years, I ran a store on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn selling Macy’s return items, until Amazon took control of the retail market and forced me to shut down in 2018. If the 21st  Century Anti-Trust Act is passed, everyday New Yorkers will finally have a powerful weapon on their side to build an economy that works for all of us, not just dominant companies like Amazon.

Leroy Johnson is a Flatbush resident, former small business owner, and leader of New York Communities for Change (NYCC), a grassroots community organizing group.