Political Quotes

“I rise to discuss the Zika virus and the urgent need for Congress to provide the $1.9 billion President Obama has requested to combat this health crisis. The Zika virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947. The virus is transmitted by the same mosquito species that transmits dengue, yellow fever, and chikungunya. Prior to 2007, the Zika virus had no known outbreaks and only 14 documented human cases. However, in the spring of 2007, scientists documented 185 suspected cases of Zika on Yap Island, Micronesia, followed by more than 30,000 suspected cases in French Polynesia and other Pacific islands between 2013 and 2014, and in May 2015 the first case of Zika was reported in Brazil. On February 1, 2016, the World Health Organization declared the ongoing Zika outbreak to be ``a public health emergency of international concern.'' According to the World Health Organization's International Health Regulations, a public health emergency of international concern is a situation where the disease outbreak ``constitutes a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease, and potentially requires a coordinated international response.'' The World Health Organization predicts that 3 to 4 million people--3 to 4 million people--in the Americas will contract Zika within 1 year. There is a common refrain among scientists and experts studying Zika: There is much they still do not know about Zika, and what they do know is worrisome.…”