Bad news – they’re here. Thirty-three members of the US military have contracted Zika, including one pregnant woman; Miami began aerial spraying of insecticide on Thursday after discovering 14 locally transmitted infections and Chicago has 46 cases with pregnant women among them. Firstly, mosquitoes could be resilient to the insecticides they’ve used.
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And the situation grew more dire Monday morning.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) reported today that two infants with Zika-related microcephaly have been born in California to women who had Zika virus infections during pregnancy after spending time in a country where the virus is endemic.
In February, the President requested $1.9 billion to combat the Zika virus. Why this risky delay?
“Meanwhile, Congress is on a summer recess”.
“The mosquitoes in the traps all died which means it was effective and so we will follow up with a larvascide mission in a day or two”, he said.
“We are talking about real people and a real crisis”, Hanna said.
We could not agree more and commend him for his well-placed concern.
Editorial board members are editorial page editor Kate Riley, Frank A. Blethen, Ryan Blethen, Donna Gordon Blankinship, Brier Dudley, Mark Higgins, Jonathan Martin, William K. Blethen (emeritus) and Robert C. Blethen (emeritus). Rubio to be a forceful voice for the well-being of his constituents, so it’s good to hear his clarion call. Congress needs to do its job. That’s what did in the most recent attempt to secure funding.
Democrats objected, and voted the bill down.
To date, there have been 215 confirmed cases of Zika, five of ChikV and 25 of dengue, one of whom was Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh.
For their part, Senate Democrats have balked at a perfectly sound Republican requirement that Zika spending be paid for, in part, with unused money originally set aside for US territories to start health exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. It was originally thought a pregnant woman’s fetus was only in danger during the first trimester.
Political conflicts left hanging a $1.9 billion bill to fund Zika research, prevention and education. State funding for abortions is already prohibited except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. The delay is irresponsible.
The threat has prompted federal health officials to warn against travel into a particularly hard-hit Miami-area neighborhood, an unprecedented move domestically that draws attention to the seriousness of the threat. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have called for the House and Senate to return to Washington and reconvene on an urgent basis to provide the Zika funding. But the chambers, ultimately, approved nothing.
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Democrats are calling Republicans obstructionists in hopes that frustration with government and an anti-Trump wave will deliver them the Senate… As Sen. Rubio reminded fellow lawmakers: “This is not a partisan issue; Zika bites everyone”.
