Trumpled (Alternative Leading)

[Mav]

Act One of 'Zika Hits the USA' has begun, CNN, 29/7/16.

Zika is here, in the USA. Fasten your seat belts because we're in for a bumpy ride.

Local mosquitoes in the Miami area are carrying the Zika virus, and have infected at least four Floridians. In announcing this alarming news during a press conference Friday morning, Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, added a sharp warning: "This is not just a Florida issue. It's a national issue -- we just happen to be at the forefront."

Now all the falderal typical of American outbreaks will commence: Political posturing, hysteria versus naysaying, conspiracy theories, demands for safety and care and a daily mounting toll of identified cases. And this year the hoopla will unfold against the background of one of the ugliest, most deeply divided election years in modern history.
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Scott no doubt saw the threat coming: every health expert knew swampy, mosquito-infested Florida would get hit with Zika first. Like some dreadful slow-motion horror movie Scott and scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have for months watched the Zika crisis unfold across Latin America, the Caribbean, Puerto Rico -- all the while expressing exasperation over the lack of congressional approval for federal funds to augment the state's $26 million emergency fund.

Scott said he found Washington's partisan disputes over Zika funding "profoundly disappointing," and his consternation only increased when Congress closed for summer recess, having reached no Zika funding agreement, thereby leaving states to muddle through the nation's peak mosquito season without hope of significant federal support until well after Labor Day.
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On Friday the CDC forecast that more than 10,000 pregnancies this year in Puerto Rico could be affected by Zika infections -- ten thousand. Whether you are inclined to support a right to life position or Planned Parenthood the prospect of idly bearing witness to thousands of pregnancies that result in miscarriages or birth defects should enrage.
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But it isn't just Florida. It would be a grave mistake to imagine that Zika will confine itself to the seaside villas of Miami or the suburbs of Broward County. Look out, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, the Carolinas, and, yes, the District of Columbia. The pressure Floridians are now applying in pursuit of federal support will swiftly magnify, as counties from Cameron, Texas, to Monmouth, New Jersey, join the din, demanding help from Washington.

Yes, we all know Washington is dysfunctional these days, but this isn't about arguing and refusing to compromise about highway construction -- this is about the nation's babies.

So fasten your seat belts, America -- the curtain is just now raising, and Act One of "Zika Hits the USA" has begun. And hecklers up in the cheap seats will be shouting, "Hey Congress, we told you so!"

Who could have seen this coming?

The experts say that a quarter of Puerto Ricans will have been infected by the end of the year.  Puerto Rico is a territory of the US and even votes in presidential primaries. 

The position of Governor Scott is interesting.  He is the National Chairman of the Trump Super PAC.  Though he demands federal help, he turned down a request made by the CDC to send in teams to help with contact tracing and testing.  If I were the Governor, I'd accept any help offered, particularly when the CDC has experts who've been working on the Zika Virus for months.  From a public health standpoint, the CDC should be involved as mosquitos and viruses don't respect State boundaries.  I hope Governor Scott didn't refuse CDC assistance for political reasons and it has to be said that Florida has previously performed well in combatting other mosquito-borne diseases.

It'll be interesting to hear what the anti-science guy, Trump, will say about the Zika Virus.  What conspiracy theory will he unleash?  What will be his sage advice to devastated pregnant women?