More resources and support will be needed to shore up the local public health infrastructure in New York state as officials face a trio of overlapping challenges from COVID-19, polio and monkeypox.

State health officials have declared all three to be imminent threats to public health, and the most recent action to combat the spread of polio in parts of the state will enable local health departments to receive reimbursement for their work in providing vaccinations.

"For the first time in our state history, there are now three simultaneous statewide imminent threats to public health formally declared in New York state," said Sarah Ravenhall, the executive director of the New York State Association of County Health Officials. "The combination of COVID-19, monkeypox and now polio brings sharp focus to the need to support public health workers and bolster our ability to respond to these threats."

Even prior to COVID, county health officials had been stretched in their responses to opioid addiction and overdoses, as well as responding to the spread of e-cigarette usage, especially by younger people.

County health departments can serve as a frontline for information to the public as well as for helping distribute vaccinations.

Still, there has been good news in the efforts to curtail the spread of all three viruses: COVID hospitalizations in the state have stabilized, monkeypox cases have declined and health officials have provided vaccinations for polio after the first case in a decade in New York was discovered in the Hudson Valley.

Health Commissioner Mary Bassett this week declared polio an imminent public health threat on top of an emergency declaration previously announced during the summer.

Local public health officials expect to raise the issues of funding and need to strengthen their offices in the coming state budget season, which begins in January.

“This declaration highlights the dedication Commissioner Bassett and Gov. Hochul hold for protecting the public from threats to public health, and we look forward to working collaboratively with her administration and the state Department of Health in the coming budget year to address the needs growing needs of our local statewide public health infrastructure to ensure they are prepared to respond to future public health emergencies," Ravenhall said.