With Florida surpassing 100 Zika cases, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson is renewing his call for Congress to approve President Barack Obama’s 1.9 billion dollar funding request to combat the mosquito-borne disease.
On the floor Monday, Nelson told his fellow Senators that about a week and a half ago, there were about 1,000 cases reported in the U.S.
“There were approximately a thousand cases reported in the U.S., and that included 570 in Puerto Rico, and 94 in Florida,” he said.
Now, he says the virus is spreading even more quickly.
“Just a little over a week later, it's already up to 1,133 cases across the country,” he added. “It's up to 629 in Puerto Rico.”
With two new cases reported in Miami-Dade Wednesday, Florida now has 109 cases. And, Nelson says Congress shouldn’t wait until there are any more deaths to take this seriously. The first U.S. Zika-related death occurred in Puerto Rico late last month.
Nelson says it's also disappointing that while he has 35 cosponsors on his bill addressing Obama's funding request, no Republican senators have signed onto his bill that he says isn't a partisan issue.
For more news updates, follow Sascha Cordner on Twitter: @SaschaCordner .
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