Sen. Charles Schumer pointed fingers toward Washington Sunday, telling New Yorkers the federal government isn’t doing enough to shield Americans from the explosion of Zika virus, and asking the World Health Organization to declare an international health emergency.
“We are here today to discuss a potentially serious public health concern that has made its way to New York,” Schumer said, citing the lack of knowledge surrounding the transmission and treatment of the mosquito-borne virus.
“We have to build a firewall — a firewall against Zika to prevent it from coming to New York and America using the resources of the federal government and the World Health Organization,” he said.
The virus has already affected 5 New Yorkers — including one pregnant woman — and 30 people nationwide.
Zika is especially frightening because pregnant women who contract the virus are at risk for giving birth to babies with Microcephaly–a rare condition in which the infant’s head is abnormally small, causing brain damage.
While mosquitoes are known the transmit the virus, The Center for Disease Control has one report of possible spread through blood-transfusion, and is investigating a case of potential transmission through sexual contact.
Schumer laid a out a three-point plan Sunday morning, calling for collaboration between the federal government and international bodies.
“The Feds should deploy all the possible resources to prevent contain and treat the Zika virus abroad [and] should expeditiously work with private industry to develop a vaccine a treatment and a test for the virus,” he told reporters.
“Finally, the W.H.O. must declare a public health emergency […] and I am urging our U.S. government to push the W.H.O. to declare a public health emergency so every nation is on the same page,” the senator concluded.
The New York cases include two people from New York City, one from Nassau County, one from Orange County and one from Monroe County. One local case was known to have come from Puerto Rico, authorities said.
“It’s scary that in a world with so many medical advances, that this is something I have to fear,” said Lauren Hamernick, a 30 year old teacher who lives in Brooklyn.
“As a person living in urban New York City, you do not expect to be faced with this type of situation,” Hamernick told the Post. “It is upsetting that the government could potentially tell woman not to get pregnant in the fear of infecting the unborn child with the Zika virus.”