Now that the United States Congress has finally approved funding to help fight the Zika outbreak, South Florida representatives are urging the one government agency to immediately hand out the money.
In a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, five members of Congress from South Florida – Republicans Mario Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Carlos Curbelo along with Democrats Frederica Wilson and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz – want the agency to begin disbursing the nearly $1.1 billion in relief as soon as possible.
“Now that Congress has appropriated funds to fight the Zika virus, we cannot allow the money to sit unspent. Both the state of Florida and Miami-Dade County have spent millions in Zika response, and federal dollars are urgently needed to continue these prevention and treatment programs,” wrote Diaz-Balart.
The plea comes as six new non-travel cases of the virus were confirmed in Miami-Dade County – including one on Miami Beach and five more in areas that have not been released yet. That brings the number of non-travel cases to 153 to go along with 733 cases of travel related Zika.
“Until the Zika virus ceases to exist or there is a vaccine available to prevent another outbreak, efforts to educate our constituents, treat those who’ve been infected, and combat the virus must move at full speed,” wrote Wilson.
