Viewpoints: Zika Infections Spreading In Florida, More Criticism About Congress’ Response
Opinion writers share their thoughts on the Zika threat and Congress's lack of action regarding emergency funding to support a public health response.
USA Today:
Zika Hits Home While Congress Fiddles
Zika has arrived in the United States, spreading via our own homegrown mosquitoes. And that is a game-changer. The Centers for Disease Control has confirmed 14 cases in the Miami area that were almost certainly contracted through the bite of locally infected mosquitoes, and the number is climbing fast. President Obama has dispatched CDC teams to Florida to marshal the public health response. Federal officials are advising a travel ban for pregnant women in the area north of Miami. (Michele Barry and Katherine States Burke, 8/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
Zika And The Democrats
The Zika virus is only beginning to hit the U.S. mainland, but its political exploitation is already an epidemic. To wit, the Obama Administration that is sitting on money and methods to reduce the Zika outbreak is using the virus as a political bludgeon to elect more Democrats. A Zika outbreak hit Miami this week, and the Centers for Disease Control on Monday advised pregnant women to get checked for possible exposure. (8/2)
Lexington Herald Leader:
Senate Democrats Chose Politics Over Funding Zika Fight
Like many Kentuckians, I am concerned about the growing threat of Zika virus in this country. As we head deeper into the summer, infected mosquitos are expected to transmit and spread the virus throughout the southern United States, including potentially Kentucky. Anyone can contract this mosquito-borne illness, but it is especially troubling for expectant mothers and their babies. (Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., 8/1)
Los Angeles Times:
With Zika Outbreak In Florida, Congress Must End Its Political Games
The Centers for Disease Control did a remarkable thing Monday. For the first time in its history, it issued a travel warning over health conditions in the continental United States. What led the federal medical experts to take such a step? Local transmission of the Zika virus in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami. (Scott Martelle, 8/2)
Statesman Journal (Salem, Ore.):
A Public Health Crisis Is No Time For A Vacation
In places where mosquitoes are carrying the virus, the number of people with Zika is growing rapidly, including pregnant women. Despite this crisis and pleas from the medical community, Republicans in Congress have chosen to put politics above public health and restrict certain family planning providers from being part of the solution to address the Zika virus. This is just the latest instance in a long list of relentless attacks by Republican lawmakers intended to deny women’s access to reproductive health care. (Mary Nolan, 8/2)
The Columbus Dispatch:
Congress Dithers And Zika Advances
The outbreak of mosquito-spread Zika in Florida should impel Congress to stop its bitter partisan bickering, return to Washington and pass a funding measure sufficient to stop this terrifying, mosquito-borne virus in its tracks. Each hour that Congress delays gives Zika a stronger foothold, raising the probability that American infants will be born with shrunken skulls and other serious birth defects. (8/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
There’s No Panacea For The Zika Epidemic
Zika has hit Florida. At least 14 cases of infection with the mosquito-borne virus are now confirmed, with more certain to come, and federal health officials are warning against visiting the Miami neighborhood where transmission occurred. Meanwhile, top athletes in golf and cycling, citing reluctance to travel to a Zika-afflicted area, have opted out of the Rio Olympic Games that begin in Brazil on Friday. Federal health officials have been touting the rapid progress in developing a Zika vaccine to protect against the virus, which can cause birth defects when pregnant women are infected, as well as a progressive paralysis called Guillain-Barré syndrome. (Henry I. Miller, 8/2)
Bloomberg View:
America's Makeshift Fight Against Zika
So far, the only mosquitoes in the continental U.S. carrying the Zika virus are confined to one neat square mile north of downtown Miami. And public health officials seem confident that they will be able to keep most of them there. (8/2)
The Guardian:
Think Zika Just Affects Brazil? It's In Florida Now
On Friday the Florida department of health reported four cases of Zika, and on Monday, another 10. All were probably contracted locally from mosquitoes in Wynwood, a northern Miami neighborhood. The CDC is advising pregnant women not to travel to the area. Meanwhile hundreds of women have tested positive for Zika virus in Puerto Rico. At least 2% of blood donors in Puerto Rico have recently been infected with Zika: another ominous sign the infection is spreading rapidly. (Celine Gounder, 8/2)