The Centers for Disease Control estimates that a full quarter of Puerto Rico’s residents will be infected with the Zika virus by the end of 2016. That dire warning was initially made in June, as health officials noted the disease was spreading at previously unexpected speeds. Late last week, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy reiterated that figure, stating that 25 percent of the country’s 3.5 million inhabitants will be infected by the end of the year, and expressed urgency in addressing the virus as infection rates threaten to reach epidemic levels.
“We cannot afford to wait much longer,” Murthy said, according to the report from the AP. “I am deeply concerned about how quickly the virus is spreading.”
Murthy’s remarks were quickly followed by the declaration of a public health emergency in Puerto Rico by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A statement issued by the agency indicates that officials are particularly concerned with the threat the virus poses to pregnant women, their children and all women of childbearing age.
“This Administration is committed to meeting the Zika outbreak in […]
A recent article elsewhere noted that zika testing is slow, expensive, and unreliable, and probably won’t be performed widely in Puerto Rico. This whole thing is BS.