The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the 60 million people living along the Gulf Coast of America may be used to living with hurricanes during the summer months, but they may be totally unprepared and at ground zero for a different type of threat — a mosquito-borne Zika outbreak.
After demanding #Zika funding for months, Senate Dems blocked it to create a political issue pic.twitter.com/Lxxl6zSvp1
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) June 30, 2016
The CDC and other tropical disease specialists are very concerned about impoverished areas along the Gulf Coast where the numbers of mosquitoes that can carry the Zika virus are expected to spike in numbers. Texas is already dealing with Dengue fever, spread by the same mosquito that carries Zika.
Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine told WWLTV.com that along the Gulf Coast, steamy summers, high poverty rates and a dizzying array of mosquitoes could allow the virus to take hold.
Hoetz also pointed out that of the 45 million Americans living in poverty, eight million live along the Gulf Coast. People with less money cannot afford the basic protections, and probably live in neighborhoods with less than adequate trash collection and illegal dumping. Trash on the roadways and in vacant lots are good collection vessels for rainwater, making them excellent breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
While most people may “take insect repellent for granted,” said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, “it’s a luxury for some people,” living on or below the poverty line.
Corey Hebert, a New Orleans pediatrician and emergency medicine physician worries about people without access to health care or contraception. Herbert also worries about the pregnant women living in over-crowded housing projects. And while anyone can be bitten by mosquitoes, CDC Director Thomas Frieden says, “Where there is more crowding and less air conditioning, there is more risk.”
Who is prepared?
Speaking at a panel meeting at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in May, a CDC official told the audience the Zika virus remains “pretty concerning,” pointing out that mosquito control in the U.S. had diminished in recent years, according to Digital Journal.
Florida and other southern states are taking action on their own to prepare for the Zika virus. In Florida, Governor Rick Scott used his emergency powers last week to authorize spending up to $26.2 million for Zika, while in Texas, major cities have had sophisticated mosquito monitoring and eradication procedures in effect for years because of their dealings with the other mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and West Nile virus.
In New Orleans, dealing with mosquitoes and the possibility of Zika is frustrating for officials because affordable housing is in short supply. The city is still recovering from the effects of hurricane Katrina, and while rents have soared 20 to 25 percent in the past couple years, wages have remained stagnant. People living on the poverty line in sub-standard housing can’t afford the deposits required to live anyplace better.
But even if all the big cities in the south are prepared to fight the Zika virus with their insecticides, garbage pickup protocols and educational programs, we still have a vast area of the south that is not covered, and this includes people living in rural areas and those living on the fringes of society. What about them?
Our federal government hasn’t been doing too much to aid the country, but that has become the expected response. Congress has remained stalemated on President Barack Obama’s $1.9 billion proposal to fight the virus. Somehow or another, a GOP proposal that would have been worth $1.1 billion was rejected by the Democrats because if didn’t include Planned Parenthood funding for Puerto Rico, where there are already 1,800 locally acquired cases of Zika virus disease, according to CTV News Canada.
Still no #zika funding from Congress and while @POTUS
is mad, @DrFriedenCDC
is worried July 1, 2016
It all comes down to the fact that as Congress goes home for the Fourth of July holiday, not a darned thing has been done concerning Zika legislation. President Obama said on Friday that the funding is “stuck in Congress,” even though $25 million in funding was released to states most affected by the Zika virus today.
“I expect Congress to get this funding done before they leave for vacation before they adjourn. That’s part of their basic responsibility,” Obama said, according to NBC News.
