PROVIDENCE, RI -- With peak mosquito season approaching, U.S. Senator Jack Reed today announced that Rhode Island will receive $170,651 in federal funding to help the state combat Zika in Rhode Island.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is awarding $25 million in federal funding nationwide today to states and cities to support efforts to protect Americans from Zika virus infection.

In May, Senator Reed brought federal experts from NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the CDC together with the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM), the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency (RIEMA), and local infectious disease experts for a meeting to discuss the state’s Zika education, prevention, and response action plan.

During the meeting, participants discussed the latest scientific knowledge about Zika, including implications for pregnant women and strategies for mosquito control.  The CDC has definitively linked the Zika virus to a birth defect known as microcephaly, which causes infants to be born with poorly developed brains and smaller-than-normal heads.   The meeting also provided an opportunity to increase knowledge of best communications practices and identify possible gaps in preparedness and response at the federal, state, and local levels and help begin to address possible gaps.

“I commend the CDC for providing this funding to help Rhode Island strengthen their response plan.  This is a serious public health issue and the state has taken active steps to prepare.  But Congress needs to act and provide additional resources to help minimize the spread of Zika before it becomes an epidemic,” said Senator Reed, a member of the Appropriations Committee, who is seeking to provide $1.9 billion in emergency funds to combat Zika and speed up development of a vaccine. 

Under the leadership of Governor Gina Raimondo, Director of Health Nicole Alexander-Scott, MD, MPH, and RIDEM Director Janet Coit, Rhode Island established a Zika Task Force in February that includes fetal medicine specialists from Women & Infants Hospital.  The state issues regular briefs to Rhode Island healthcare providers with updated guidance and information on symptoms.  RIDOH is also coordinating with the RIDEM on increased mosquito surveillance and larvaciding.

CDC selected funding recipients based on the risk of local transmission as determined by the estimated range of the two Aedes mosquito species known to transmit Zika virus in the U.S.; history of mosquito-borne disease outbreaks; and size of population. Jurisdictions can use the funds to rapidly identify and investigate a possible outbreak of Zika virus in their communities; coordinate a comprehensive response across all levels of government and non-governmental partners (including the healthcare sector); and identify and connect families affected by Zika to community services.  Funding can also be used to purchase preparedness resources like repellent, screens, and supplies for Zika Prevention Kits.

According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control, the United States has had 2,680 Zika cases, including 481 pregnant women. 

In February, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.9 billion to combat Zika.  Meanwhile the U.S. House of Representatives only set aside $622 million to combat Zika.  Last month, the U.S. Senate initially approved a bipartisan $1.1 billion Zika measure.  However, instead of allowing a clean bill to pass, Republicans loaded it up with a variety of unrelated poison provisions that would have undercut women’s health care, reduced funding for veterans, gutted EPA regulations, and loosened restrictions on the display of the Confederate flag. 

Senate Democrats have called on Republicans to cut the July 4th recess short and return to Congress to pass a workable, bipartisan bill to adequately address Zika.