One more menace in an electorate that’s already in a sour mood
Add one more X-factor to the Sunshine State’s politics: the Zika virus.
It’s the most chaotic American election year since 1968: ISIS-inspired attacks at home and abroad, minorities’ anger at the police and ambushes of officers, bad economic-growth numbers, two deeply flawed major-party candidates, and surprising support for third-party options. Now one more X-factor, looming over the key swing state of Florida: an outbreak of the Zika virus.
For much of the country, the Zika virus is a far-off threat, part of the mess at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the kind of menace that usually makes television newscasts showcase creepy B-roll footage of swarming mosquitos. But for residents of Miami, the threat is right at their screen door, with residents of the rest of the state wondering whether that buzzing bug might be a lot more than a briefly itchy annoyance.
Florida health officials said Tuesday that a one-square-mile neighborhood in north Miami, called Wynwood, is the only area in the state with active, ongoing Zika transmission by mosquitoes. But another new local infection indicates that mosquitoes are spreading the disease beyond that neighborhood. Miami-Dade County has had 13 cases of locally transmitted Zika infections; Broward County has had two. There are also 336 people in the state who acquired the disease abroad. Those numbers are expected to grow, and with thousands of Americans traveling to Florida’s beaches and Disney resorts over the summer, more cases in other states are likely. The Pentagon announced Wednesday that 33 active-duty servicemen and -women, including one pregnant woman, have contracted the Zika virus in countries with outbreaks.
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The federal government’s response to the Zika virus isn’t likely to be decisive in the presidential race, but it’s likely there will be at least one debate question about it. What’s most likely is that the virus will join a national symphony of troubles, one more headache for a country feeling besieged, one more sign of a globalized world bringing far-off problems close to home. If so, does that benefit Trump as the candidate who is, whatever his faults, the candidate of change? Or does fear of a viral epidemic make voters think this is a time for experienced, calm hands at the wheel — and that Clinton is such a person?
The government’s response to Zika is undoubtedly going to play a factor in the state’s Senate race, where the incumbent senator, Marco Rubio, is running for reelection and is favored, but not a lock, in November. He will face one of two congressmen, either Patrick Murphy or Alan Grayson.
Rubio has been sounding the alarm about the virus for most of the year, and he has particularly focused on the topic since his presidential bid ended. In a press conference in Doral on Wednesday morning, he warned:
There is this unprecedented advisory for pregnant women to avoid the Wynwood district and that is rocking the community. We already have reports of small businesses who have closed, small businesses that have decided obviously because of the outdoor cafes to close until further notice, events have been canceled. . . . Zika is not just a public-health emergency, it’s also an economic one. We are very concerned about the impact this ultimately has on Florida’s tourism.
Rubio said he believes that “it won’t be long before other jurisdictions, other states, and other communities in this state and in this country will face the same situation.”
He is quick to point out he’s supported every bill that has come before the Senate to deal with Zika, and he expressed irritation with both parties that a Zika-focused bill hasn’t made it through both chambers.
#share#House Speaker Paul Ryan notes, accurately, that considerable money to deal with Zika is already in the pipeline, and the Obama administration has been slow to distribute available funds. As of early July, the administration had distributed only $112 million out of $589 million that was diverted from existing funds to focus on Zika.
In mid July, Republican appropriators wrote to Obama in a letter dripping with irritation: “This money is available immediately to prepare for and combat Zika, yet is seemingly not being spent. . . . We urge you to use available funding now to ensure our nation is prepared.”
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There are some good signs in the American effort against Zika. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases began human testing of an experimental DNA-based Zika vaccine Wednesday. Director Anthony Fauci declared, “If it’s a home run, we’ll know pretty quickly.” Inovio Pharmaceuticals began human testing of a separate experimental vaccine a few days earlier.
Other ideas are even more unexpected. There’s a proposal to release a genetically modified mosquito with much lower reproductive rates. There’s even talk of importing bats, a natural predator to mosquitos, to the Miami area. There’s no panic yet; polling currently suggests that 77 percent of Americans aren’t that worried about contracting Zika.
#related#One of the broader themes of the election battle between Clinton and Trump has been the split between those who tend to welcome the world and those who are more wary of what lies beyond our border — imported foreign goods, terrorists, and immigration (both legal and illegal). Polling indicates Americans have been gloomy on the “right track/wrong direction” question throughout Obama’s presidency. The national mood will only become darker if enough Americans find themselves fearing that one of summer’s most common annoyances, a mosquito bite, could lead to a risk of serious birth defects.