Hillary Clinton is a grandma, and she loves babies. Donald Trump
kicks babies out of his campaign events. Hillary has held many campaign
events with babies and young children in attendance. The zika virus can
lead to heartbreak, and it has. A baby girl died. Hillary heard about
it, and she has something to say before this crisis outgrows
all manageability.
For
months, experts have warned that Zika — a disease linked to devastating
birth defects — would spread to the United States this summer, and now
it has. There were nearly 1,900 confirmed cases across the continental
U.S. as of early August, and now we’ve seen the first locally
transmitted cases in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami.
I
know how scary that must be for young parents, particularly those who
are expecting. This week, a father wrote to me to say that his wife is
23 weeks pregnant and they are alarmed because her office is in Wynwood.
And yesterday, we heard the heartbreaking news that a baby girl born
with Zika-related birth defects died in Houston.
I
had the chance to visit the Borinquen Medical Center in Miami
yesterday, where physicians, nurses, and researchers are on the
frontlines working to prevent and treat Zika. It’s a serious
challenge — one that we need to mobilize to address before the virus
spreads further.
Everyone
has a role to play in preventing this disease. As one doctor said in our
discussion, if you prevent yourself from being bitten by a mosquito,
you prevent a mosquito from reproducing.
