MIAMI: Miami’s Zika outbreak got the presidential-campaign treatment Tuesday, when Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton visited a local health clinic and urged Congress to meet in an emergency session and find money to fight the mosquito-borne virus.
“I am very disappointed that the Congress went on recess before actually agreeing on what they would do to put the resources into this fight,” she said at Borinquen Health Care Center, a community clinic in the roughly 1-square-mile outbreak zone. “I really am hoping that they will pay attention.”
It’s the unexpected political side effect of Zika: bipartisan agreement — among politicians in Florida, at least — that federal lawmakers failed to act before local mosquitoes started transmitting the disease.
Clinton is the highest-profile political figure to call for Congress to reconvene, but she’s hardly the only one. Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, has repeatedly asked for leaders of his own party to do more to fund prevention and treatment efforts at the state and local levels.
He reiterated the request Tuesday when the Florida Health Department confirmed four new Zika cases in Wynwood — smack in the middle of Clinton’s Borinquen visit.
“Every day that passes that Congress and the president fail to come to an agreement hinders our national response to Zika,” Scott said in a statement. He wants Democratic President Barack Obama to repurpose federal money to fight Ebola to go instead to combating Zika.
Miami Republicans in Congress have made similar requests. In a campaign trip to South Miami last week, Vice President Joe Biden said the White House could reallocate some of the Ebola money to go toward Zika, but he underscored the importance of Congress setting aside significant dollars for the public-health efforts.
Clinton and Scott mentioned a baby girl in Houston born with Zika-related microcephaly whose death was reported Tuesday.
“We don’t want to wake up in a year and read so many more stories about babies like the little girl who just died in Houston,” Clinton said. “That’s just not something we should tolerate in our country.”
She spoke to about 30 people gathered at the health clinic, named after the native name for the island of Puerto Rico. Wynwood was once a Puerto Rican enclave, and Puerto Rico holds significance for Zika and the presidential campaign. The virus is widespread on the island — and Puerto Ricans who can’t vote for president on the island have moved in droves to Central Florida, where they can cast ballots and affect the election.
At Borinquen, Clinton met Miami-Dade County Health Administrator Lillian Rivera, as well as doctors, researchers and other clinic workers who outlined how they’ve responded to the Zika outbreak. One worker, clad in long sleeves and pants, is four months pregnant and told Clinton that although she tested negative for the virus, she’s taking precautions like spraying mosquito repellent and telling her husband to wear condoms during sex.
“We don’t want to unduly alarm people,” Clinton said, recounting the worker’s story. “We want people to become informed.”
While campaigning in Florida last week, Trump told a local TV news station that “the Zika” was probably “under control” already by Gov. Scott, a Trump supporter. Trump will hold a rally in Sunrise on Wednesday and speak to homebuilders in Miami Beach on Thursday.