Federal money to fight the Zika virus is now so sparse that there would be none available to combat a new outbreak, said Centers for Disease Control director Thomas Frieden, MD.
Frieden’s warning comes as three new Zika cases were announced in Miami-Dade County Tuesday and the state is attempting to determine where two of the infections occurred while the third is in Miami Beach, where the virus is already circulating.
The CDC has already spent about $35 million in Florida.
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“The cupboard is bare,” Frieden said in Washington at a briefing with health reporters. He added that states are also struggling with emergency preparedness funding for Zika. “If they don’t have money left in their grants, we don’t have money left, either.”
That means in the event of another outbreak, either in Florida or elsewhere, no emergency funds will be available.
Senate Republicans have scheduled a vote on a $1.1 billion Zika package for Tuesday when Congress reconvenes. But before Congress started its summer break Democrats and republicans could not work out a package.
Whether both parties will agree on a compromise or introduce an entirely new plan to fund Zika research is hard to predict but the virus’s potential ramifications make funding a matter that will not simply go away.
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