“We estimate that approximately 150,000 New Yorkers may currently be at risk for monkeypox exposure,” Mayor Eric Adams and Dr. Ashwin Vasan, commissioner of the city’s health and mental hygiene department, said in a joint statement. “This outbreak must be met with urgency, action, and resources, both nationally and globally, and this declaration of a public health emergency reflects the seriousness of the moment.”

The declaration takes effect immediately, the statement said.

It comes just a day after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an executive order declaring a state disaster emergency, saying “more than one in four monkeypox cases in this country” are in the state. Among several other actions, the governor’s order expands the number of people eligible to administer monkeypox vaccines, requires providers to send vaccine data to the state’s health department and will boost ongoing response efforts including efforts to get more vaccines and expand testing capacity, the governor’s office said.