(Bugout.news) There is an incurable pandemic heading to the United States and unless the federal government acts, the damage will be extreme.
That’s not the ranting of a lunatic, but a warning from Florida’s governor, Rick Scott, in regards to the dreaded Zika virus that is sweeping through Brazil and across Central and South America.
As reported by The Associated Press:
Florida will experience a “disaster” with the Zika virus if federal authorities don’t immediately provide money to help battle the virus, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday.
Scott, who had already visited Washington, D.C., in an effort to get Congress to act, sent a strongly worded letter to President Barack Obama asking the federal government to do something. The Republican governor called it “profoundly disappointing” that Congress has not taken “immediate action.”
As usual, however, the issue has devolved into partisan politics. In response to Scott’s letter, White House spokesman Josh Earnest, the president’s chief spin doctor, blamed Republicans for failing to pass a $1.9 billion funding measure Obama has been seeking; that said, the GOP-led Congress did pass a $622 million funding measure that Obama threatened to veto.
That said, there are currently 162 cases of Zika virus in Florida, including 38 pregnant women. The danger is, of course, that the virus will cause the “shrunken head” syndrome in the pregnant women, creating a lifetime of dependency for those children, not to mention how tough it will be on parents.
Of those infected, all came from outside the country (another problem in and of itself, but for later). However, state officials are concerned that as hurricane season approaches, the wet weather will enable the virus to be transmitted to mosquitoes domestically.
“There is no doubt that we fall further and further behind fighting the spread of this virus with every day that passes and we are not fully prepared,” Scott wrote in his letter. “… We need federal action now to keep our citizens safe and healthy through what would no doubt be a disaster if this virus becomes mosquito-borne in our state.”
Scott said he wants the extra funding to help the state pay for insecticides, extra mosquito-spraying equipment and kits to help with Zika preparation efforts, as well as funding to help local governments hire more people to bolster spraying efforts.
But again, the measure is bogged down in the politics of Washington, D.C., where everyone shares blame but no one ever accepts it.
Even so, if a measure was approved tomorrow and signed into law, it would still take weeks for the money to be released to the respective state agencies, thanks to the byzantine nature of the federal bureaucracy.
In the meantime, the virus will continue to creep northward from South America into the United States, putting more and more Americans at risk.
Though the next pandemic is on our doorstep, there are still some things you can do to protect yourself and your family – check them out here.
More:
- The Zika Virus Is Coming: Are You Prepared?
- ‘Prepping,’ ‘Panic Rooms,’ And ‘Going Off-Grid’ Now Mainstreaming As Record Numbers Of Americans Get Ready For Chaos
- Review: Important Considerations For Choosing And Preparing A ‘Safe Room’
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