Miami
There are 691 confirmed cases of the Zika virus in the United States, according to the latest update provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In Florida, the count is up to 176, with 53 in Miami-Dade County alone.
Another year, another world health emergency with the potential for widespread impact on American shores. Except this time, Congress appears even less willing to put politics aside in order to provide the funding necessary to mount a serious prevention campaign. Give-and-take between the president and Congress is a perfectly acceptable feature of our political system—in 2014, Obama asked for $6.2 billion in response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, but settled for $5.4 billion as part of a $1.1 trillion appropriations act—but Congress needs to act with greater urgency to counteract the spread of Zika.
In February, the Obama administration requested $1.9 billion to deal with Zika. Three months later, the Senate authorized $1.1 billion to counteract the mosquito-borne virus, while the House approved $622 million to be spent, which, unlike the Senate’s bill, requires that funds previously allocated to our Ebola response be redirected toward the Zika effort. With these differences firmly in place, Congress decided to go on vacation.
There are at least four reasons why Congress should revisit the issue and increase the amount of funding for the fight this scourge.
First, authorizing the necessary funding now could help prevent having to spend substantially more later. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, estimates that a child born with microcephaly—a fetal brain condition caused by the Zika virus for which there is currently no cure—could face lifetime medical costs ranging from $1 to $10 million. A panel of experts at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health produced an economic model that suggests that for just six states (currently, 45 of 50 states have at least one confirmed, travel-associated case of Zika infection), the cost of Zika, in terms of lost productivity and medical expenses, could exceed $2 billion.
Second, in addition to the economic argument, which suggests the fiscally conservative solution is to authorize proper funding now in order to avoid a far greater economic impact down the road, the Zika threat has given us that rarest of events: bipartisan agreement. The Senate bill had 23 Republicans and 44 Democrats voting to approve it, while the House measure, which authorized far less than what the President asked for, had nearly every House Democrat vote no in order to put pressure on Republican leadership to increase the amount.
In Florida, GOP leaders at all levels urge that more action needs to be taken. Governor Rick Scott expressed disappointment with the congressional commitment to the Zika response, saying that “[Florida] needs a federal partner.” Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Carlos Curbelo held a joint conference to address congressional inaction on this issue, which Sen. Rubio called “unimaginable.”
Third, reassigning money from our ongoing Ebola response compromises our disease-prevention efforts in a part of the world that is absolutely crucial moving forward. In early April, the White House announced it would be redirecting nearly $600 million from funding allocated to our Ebola efforts in order to deal with Zika. But public health experts have informed Congress at hearings that the Ebola money is still needed in order to strengthen African health infrastructure and systems in order to help prevent future outbreaks.
Lastly, Congress needs to increase the response because the Zika virus is a humanitarian crisis happening in the Americas. In Puerto Rico—a U.S. territory—1 in 5 residents are expected to be infected this summer, adding to the island’s $70 billion debt woes, which has already severely compromised the health outcomes of its residents. And Brazil, the country in which Zika originated and the one hardest hit by it, could use our help as well. The Rio de Janeiro Olympics, scheduled to take place in August, will undoubtedly augment Zika’s global reach when people from all over the world arrive at the place where, as of late March, reported close to 100,000 cases of Zika infections.
This is not the time for Congress to shuffle its feet. For economic, political, and moral reasons, we need to provide the funding necessary to stop this health emergency from getting worse than it already is.
Berny Belvedere is a professor of philosophy and a writer based in Miami.
