Transcript: Mayor Bill de Blasio, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Congressman Jose E. Serrano State Senator Adriano Espaillat Update New Yorkers on Zika Efforts

August 16, 2016

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. We’re always proud we’re in the Department of Health’s facility because we have the strongest public health capacity of any city in the nation, and that’s been true for generations. It’s something that New Yorkers are very proud of, and something that’s been worked on for generations as well. So we are used to in this city dealing with some of the biggest and most complex health challenges anywhere in the country. And at the same time, we’re cognizant of the fact that more and more what we face in New York City is directly connected to what’s happening elsewhere in the country and what’s happening elsewhere in the world because we are a truly global city. People of the United States depend on New York City to be a global city, to be an economic leader, to be a place that connects the American economy to the rest of the world. Well that means people are coming through here all the time from all over the world, and that means we deal with some of the associated health challenges as well.

So we’re here today to talk about the crisis of Zika and some of the things that we need to do and why we need federal help so badly, and why the time is now for the federal government to act. As I said, we have an extraordinary public health apparatus here. It is one that is known for moving quickly whenever there is a crisis. That’s certainly been true with Zika. And New Yorkers should be aware of the fact and proud of the fact that our Department of Health and many other agencies working with the Department have moved aggressively to address Zika from the beginning of this crisis – taken swift action to reduce the potential of transmission of Zika in neighborhoods all over the five boroughs. And this lab we’re in here today – this building houses the Public Health Lab and it does cutting edge research to help keep New Yorkers safe. And so it’s the right place to say that we’re doing everything that we know how to do here in New York City.

We’re putting tremendous resources into the fight against Zika, but we need the federal government to get involved. We need the federal government to protect the people of New York City and the entire country. We need the federal government to act now and pass the authorization for $1.9 billion in funding for actions against Zika. That has to happen now. It’s something that should transcend all partisanship, all sense of regionalism. This is something that’s in the interest of the entire country, and we need action now. Without federal dollars, we cannot deepen our work and we won’t have the assurance that other jurisdictions are doing all they can do to fight Zika. And again, people are traveling all the time around the country and between New York and the Caribbean and Latin America. This is a very dynamic situation. And even though New York City is doing a lot of the right things, if other parts of the country don’t know how or can’t afford to, that simply means that the Zika crisis will deepen. We have a chance to stop it now, but the federal government must do all it’s capable of. And I want to remind people that if this action isn’t taken, it is a danger to mothers and particularly to babies here in New York City and all over the country. It’s quite clear how much damage Zika can cause. It’s time to take the action to stop this crisis while we can.

Now, I want to say, as much we’re frustrated that we haven’t seen action from the Congress as a whole, we couldn’t be more pleased and more appreciative for the work of our New York City delegation. We’re going to hear from Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney in a moment who has been one of the leaders in the fight against Zika. And thank you Congresswoman for that. It is so important that there are voices in the Congress acting as consciences, reminding their colleagues that the time to act is now.

And you’re going to hear from Dr. Mary Bassett in a moment. I want to thank her and everyone at the Health Department for the extraordinary work they’re doing, and all my elected colleagues who have joined us. They’re hearing from people in their districts. There’s a lot of fear; there’s a lot of concern. And we all know that we need that federal help to be able to do all that we can do to fight Zika.

Again, we are proud to be a global city. There’s a lot of good in being a global city, but with it comes the danger that illnesses that cross boundaries and borders can come here. And we understood this from the very beginning of the Zika crisis. So in April, we announced a strategic three-year, $21 million plan to address Zika: first, by reducing the mosquito population here in the city through careful and targeted preventative efforts. And these have been different than what we have done in the past. In the past we’ve focused, of course, on West Nile. Now, we’re going after a different mosquito and the potential that that mosquito becomes involved with Zika. So we’ve been targeting the Aedes species, and we’ve been intensifying our mosquito-killing efforts in many parts of the city, beyond even that which we’ve done in the past, and increasing the reduction of standing water, doubling the number of traps, [inaudible] both larvicide and spraying out there. So, it’s been a very coordinated effort to reduce the mosquito population.

Second, there’s an ongoing research effort and this lab plays a key role in that to detect the disease in humans and in mosquitos quickly and accurately so that we can target our efforts. 

And, third – so important – spreading the word to New Yorkers about the precautions they can take. This work has started in earnest, but it needs to go a lot deeper. There’s a lot of mystery in the public mind about Zika. There’s a lot of answers we have to get to people and we’re going to be redoubling our efforts at public information.

So far, New York City has tested 3,400-plus pregnant women – 49 of them have tested positive and, very, very sadly, one baby was born with microcephaly due to Zika – a reminder of just how dangerous this disease can be. As it stands, in terms of the entire country, there’s only been one case of Zika transmitted within the United States. All other cases here are from travel.

So, the main message to New Yorkers – and we’re going to be getting this out in a lot of different ways – but the main message it to practice safe sex. Now that we know this is a disease that can be transmitted sexually, practice safe sex and avoid travel to places where Zika is present if you are either pregnant, or trying to get pregnant, or a sexual partner of someone trying for a pregnancy. So, these are very important, common-sense steps that people can take to protect themselves. 

We know Zika is present in almost every Latin American and Caribbean country, and now very much so in southern Florida. In the continental United States, there are about 2,000 confirmed cases – again, all but one travel-related and more than 480 of those confirmed cases are in New York City. So, we expect the travel-related numbers to rise even as our local mosquito season ends at the end of October, beginning of November. We still expect, sadly, to see those numbers rise because of travel, but we’ll continue to test, we’ll continue to inform the public, to care for the public. 

We have made a very major effort here and you’re reminded of a very different reality a few years ago, but with some similarities – the Ebola crisis. We knew we were going to throw in everything we had. We also knew that the federal government was going to back us up. We need that again today. We’re going to keep doing what we need to do and spending the money that we need to spend, but we expect the federal government to be a partner. And, again, even more so that what we face in the Ebola crisis, we see the danger of the spread of this disease rapidly in the United States. With this requires a coordinated national response, and that could only happen via the Congress authorizing the $1.9 billion. 

So, we’re going to work very hard with our Congressional delegation and we’re going to make clear responsibility lies with two people, and I’ve sent them a letter today – Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. Let’s be clear, these are the two individuals who can address the Zika in this crisis in this country. President Obama has made clear he treats it as a priority. He is doing all he can within his executive powers. It’s time for Speaker Ryan and Majority Leader McConnell to step up, get the Congress back so it will act. This is a crisis that affects all their members – states all over the country. And this is not a red-state crisis or a blue-state crisis, this affects all of us. Those two leaders can step up and make the difference right now. 

Congress must act, and, in doing so, it will allow New York City to do even more, and it’ll allow us to have a truly national response. 

Quickly, a few words in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, I want to introduce someone who is really fighting hard for New York City, as always, but we particularly appreciate her leadership in the midst of what is a growing health crisis – Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. 

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney: I want to thank the Mayor and this great city for all of their efforts. And truly, the greatest city in the world should have the best response and prevention and care for its population – its citizens. And that is what Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Bassett, who are joining us and speaking today on this, are working on and for. Congressional leadership has to get serious about it. I applaud the letter. Our delegation will likewise be sending letters to these two leaders. This is an international health crisis and it must be addressed. I want to thank my colleagues who are with me today – Jose Serrano is on his way but State Senator Espaillat – the newest member of Congress – and State Senator Dilan and Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh for adding their voices. I might also say some of these members represent severely affected neighborhoods. Dominicans and Puerto Ricans that are just a plane ride away from friends and relatives that may arrive here with the Zika virus. And we know they have a large outbreak in those countries and we have to do everything to help them and help our own citizens.

I really want to thank the Mayor and everyone in the city for everything they’ve done to mobilize, without federal support, a response to Zika. In fact, we are standing in a building that has a lab upstairs that has conducted 7,000 tests on New Yorkers for Zika and they have diagnosed it. They are treating people across the street. And, I am amazed and really impressed. Not many cities could come forward and put together their own response quickly to this. But they need help. The City can’t do it alone nor should they. This is a national challenge, it is an international challenge. And the City deserves federal support.

The City – because of these tests, we know that we have 441 confirmed Zika cases. Our city is second in our country with Zika cases and four of these were transmitted through sex. This is important because this mosquito and this virus is the first time that it has created a virus that can be transmitted by sex. And at first they studied it and this is something we need to study more about. It is also the first time that a virus transmitted by a mosquito has caused a birth defect in children. So this is a very, very serious, serious challenge. There have been well over 1,900 Zika cases in our country. And 510 of these are pregnant women, including 48 pregnant women from New York. And I have been told by the lab that they are prioritizing pregnant women because there is an absolute disaster out there in that women who have Zika are having children who are born with microcephaly. And this is a terrible condition. This is a birth defect where the head is very small and slanted back and the brain is very small and so this compounds into many, many other problems and challenges. They’re studying exactly what it means. But we want to prevent pregnancies with Zika infected people because you’re going to have a deformed mentally challenged child that cannot live alone or independently.

So the threat across this country and in our city is deep. It is strong and it is real. And that is why President Obama forcefully called for it back in February – $1.9 billion to fund the research; vaccine development; assistance to states and global aid. Zika first appeared in the 1950s in Africa. It then reappeared recently in Brazil. But if you can contain it in these other countries then it won’t be coming and affecting other people around the world. But because Republicans refuse to fund it the administration had to shift $589 million from Ebola funding into Zika funding.

Well, I literally just got back from Liberia where the Ebola outbreak was, where they have the Ebola hospital, where they are doing all of the Ebola research and follow up with all of the patients and they need that money. So they are stealing from Peter to pay Paul and it is not a good way to address a crisis. And that money that they have shifted is running out. And so just this past week, while I was in Africa the Health Department mails us and tells us that they’ve taken $81 million from biomedical research to fund the Zika efforts.

Now HHS Secretary Burwell has told us that this funding is going to run out in September, by the end of September, so we are literally up against a wall. And this is a priority, it is priority health, it is a priority for the City and its priority for this country. But unfortunately the Congressional Republicans have proposed a Zika plan that dramatically underfunds the problem by providing $800 million less than what the President requested and what the scientists are telling us that they need. And two – they actually would block funding for contraception, for Planned Parenthood, which makes absolutely no sense because this is a virus that is sexually transmitted. And if you become pregnant with the Zika virus, your baby will be severely deformed and incompatible with a normal life. So we should not be allowing these ideological crusades against contraception to block funding, which is desperately needed for pregnant women and their babies to keep them safe and to hopefully prevent them from having birth defects by preventing them from getting the disease in the first place.

Now we have to look at some of the countries that are suffering from Zika. And literally four days ago I was in Cape Verde where there has been an outbreak of Zika and we were meeting with the Zika mothers and their babies. And let me tell you, nothing is more heartbreaking to see these helpless children that are physically and clearly deformed in their heads but internally deformed, so they are telling us, and they need so much support now and they need it their entire lives. So, fully funding the President’s request is our best chance of combating the spread of the virus.

Now, I hope we can get some research dollars here in New York but there is a lab in Massachusetts which is joined with a lab in Brazil to test the effectiveness of a Zika vaccine. They have tested it on mice and it has been successful. They have tested it on monkeys and it has been successful. They need to go to the next tier and test it more and the money is not there for them to do it. We need a vaccine; we need the funding to be able to do these tests. NIH is likewise conducting a trial for a Zika virus. They began it earlier. They are running out of money. They will not be able to continue it. And the FDA has approved a very, very creative plan of releasing genetically modified mosquitos that would hinder the procreation of the Aedes Aegypti species that is transmitting the virus in Florida. So, all of these three research areas will not be able to go forward unless this funding comes through.        

So the longer we put it off, the worst it is going to get. The worst the travel advisories, the warnings, the births of Zika babies, the neighborhoods and it is spreading as we know. So this is a public health emergency.

I want to congratulate the great City of New York for their public health department. And for creatively stepping up and making it happen but again, they can’t do it all by themselves and it is my great pleasure to introduce the Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner, Mary Travis Bassett. Thank you for your lab and your treatment. Thank you.

Commissioner Mary Bassett, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Congresswoman, and thank you Mr. Mayor. We are, today, at the Health Department’s Public Health Lab. And, Mr. Mayor, this is the second time that you’ve visited us here at the Public Health Lab to make an announcement.

This is the oldest public health laboratory in the country so, we’d have to go back 100 years but I believe that this is a record for mayoral visits to this laboratory. We’re always happy to have you. And this time you brought with you other elected officials – Congresswoman Maloney, Senator Serrano, Senator Espaillat; soon-to-be Congresswoman Maloney’s colleague, Senator Dilan; Assemblymember Kavanagh, and Council [inaudible]. I hope everyone is here. I may have named names of people who are on their way.

But by coming here, you highlight, as you have throughout this administration the central role of science in protecting and promoting the health of New Yorkers. In February, this lab didn’t test for Zika. There were very few labs in the entire country that did so. There were no commercial tests. But today, we are testing some-hundred people each day. In this building are the entomologists who receive the mosquito traps, and as you’ve heard we have doubled the number. Twice as many are placed around the city this year as last year. They count the mosquitoes, they determine what species they are, they mash them up, and then they test them for West Nile and Zika Virus. None have tested positive for Zika.

We have diagnosed 483 people. Yesterday we updated our numbers, Congresswoman. So, 483 people have been diagnosed with Zika – all travel-associated, as you heard, among them, 49 pregnant women. These tests are done right here in this laboratory. And in this laboratory we did the test to identify the first reported case of female-to-male sexual transmission of Zika. As you’ve heard in New York City, we’ve had four cases of sexual transmission.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge Dr. Jen Rakeman, who is the director of our lab, and her outstanding team for this incredible pace of work – nothing less than the best. These findings help guide our public and provider education. By tracking mosquitoes we are able to figure out where we should place our traps, and where we should spray. Last night, our teams sprayed over 5,000 acres in the Bronx for adult flying mosquitoes. Next week, we will be spraying for adult mosquitoes in Upper Manhattan.

So, we can do all this, Mr. Mayor, because of the mobilized resources that allowed us to expand our efforts and enable an aggressive response to Zika. It’s really straightforward. We’re reducing the numbers of mosquitoes, we’re diagnosing Zika infection, and we’re disseminating information about how people can protect themselves. But this would not be possible without the $21 million dollars that were mobilized and placed in our budget.

In order to take science out of this building, so that it can protect the public, we have to have resources. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor. But not all jurisdictions have these resources. All of us would benefit from federal funding. As all of us have said, this is a global city – San Juan; Santo Domino; Wynwood, Miami; and many other places are just a plane ride away. You can get there in hours. And failure to address Zika will come to our door. That’s why the global is local. The Centers for Disease Control needs more funding to provide critical assistance to national institutes of health, needs funding so that it can stop plundering its budget and other important projects in order to develop and test a vaccine.

We need federal action to pass in full – the requested $1.9 billion – to protect our highest risk group, women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant – and to end Zika transmission.

So, thank you to all of the elected officials here today for urging Congress to take action. And thank you again, Mr. Mayor, for investing in public health.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Bassett. Now, I want to bring forward a man who soon will be a new member of Congress. So, he’ll be there to fight this fight. Hopefully, this fight will be initially won but it will be an ongoing battle also. But he also represents a community as the first Dominican-American ever elected to Congress. He represent a community that right now is filled with concern for their families both here in this country and back home. And so he has a very personal perspective on this situation. It’s my honor to introduce Senator Adriano Espaillat.

State Senator Adriano Espaillat: Thank you, Mayor, Dr. Bassett, Congresswoman Maloney, my colleague Senator Dilan, and Assemblyman Kavanagh. This is an important issue for many of us that represent districts where we have a high number of families that travel back and forth to either the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Haiti, etcetera. This is very concerning to us.

Several weeks back, Dr. Bassett and I were at a press conference with the Attorney General where he highlighted the fact that there is a significant number of deceptive products that were being sold online that claimed to prevent the Zika infection. Some of them went as far as to stickies for little kids.

So, for those of us that represent – as Senator Dilan does and myself – neighborhoods that travel back and forth, we know the season where there’s lots of travel. Usually there’s a big number of families that travel back to visit their relatives right after school ends, and they usually come back right before school open in early September, late August. So, we will be getting back a significant number of families from the Dominican Republic, from Puerto Rico, from Jamaica, from Haiti, from the Caribbean that perhaps left just before all the information really went out. And so, we’re very concerned at what happens there.

And the second season that people usually travel back home is during the holidays for December. And you can see the peaks, and you can also see the prices of the airfare during these two seasons.

[Laughter]

And so, it is very concerning to us that pregnant women and their partners, or women that are looking to get pregnant, or partners of women that are looking to get pregnant, are traveling back to these hotspots. So, a significant percentage of the cases – the Zika cases here are for people that have traveled to the Dominican Republic, not because there is a greater percentage of Zika infections, that’s because we have more people – 800,000 people of Dominican decent here. So, this is concerning to us. We’re glad that the city is spraying. They will be spraying in Northern Manhattan. You have certain areas that have marsh in the waterfront areas there in the Sherman Creek, and the northwest side of the northern tip of Manhattan. The City will be spraying there.

And this is a great lab where you have had some aggressive research for West Nile and other types of mosquito outbreaks. So, we’re happy to be here.

And the bottom line is we need funding this because this is very costly. And the State even doesn’t have the capacity to fully spray. Very often the State has to rely on the municipalities to do this. So, we need funding from Congress because, as I think it was well put by Dr. Bassett and Congresswoman Maloney, global is local because this is a city of many, many immigrants from throughout the world. And so, we cannot be so, like, isolated from a worldwide health crisis. We’re going to be directly impacted all this time. This is going to – as we move forward, we will have to have additional funding and in this case it’s $1.9 billion that we need to effectively address the Zika crisis.

So, this is very, very sad and important. It affects newborns and young families. And so, we’re very concerned that not enough is being done, that we don’t have the funding, that we’re taking funding away from one crisis to address another crisis, and that’s not really the smart way to address a health crisis, just to take from Ebola to give to Zika or vice versa. It’s not a smart way to do it. I think the funding should be there. This is non-partisan. The first cases were detected in Florida – in Southern Florida so clearly this is non-partisan. This is something that impacts – a Zika mosquito does not say, “Oh, that’s a Republican pregnant woman,” or “That’s a Democratic pregnant woman.” No. No. It impacts everybody.

So, we want to make sure the resources are on the table. I will be – hopefully going to Congress to join Congresswoman Maloney in fighting to make sure the money is there, not just for this particular crisis but that we’re prepared. We’re a city of immigrants, we’re a state of immigrants, and a nation of immigrants. And we’re always going to be exposed for all kinds of health crises or epidemics that emerge throughout the world.

So, Mayor, good job again. Thank you so much. And Dr. Bassett, you’re a star. Thank you so much Congresswoman, and my colleagues in government.

[Senator Espaillat speaks in Spanish]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Senator. I want to first thank Senator Martin Dilan who is graciously going to defer speaking. But I want to thank him for the work he’s doing on this issue in his district – also a district with many people who have family travelling back and forth to the Caribbean. He himself is a child of Puerto Rican immigrants. So, you understand what this means to so many families in your district. And we’re joined by Congressman Serrano. I’m going to give him a moment to warm up. But let me turn first to the Assemblyman who represents this area, and has also been working shoulder to shoulder with us. Assemblyman Kavanagh.

Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think, maybe, the thing to do is to cool down at this point.

[Laughter]

[Inaudible]

So, I’m very proud to be here. I represent this neighborhood. I represent two communities that are really relevant. One, I represent the Lower East Side where we have many families with backgrounds in nations that are facing this crisis, particularly Puerto Rican and Dominican but many other immigrant families as well. And the other is – I represent – I’m very proud to represent this, what is really a hub of some of the best public health action and knowledge and resources in America. We have this great slightly shabby but very important institution. Looks, like it was about 100 years ago these –

[Laughter]

But it’s a very serious scientific institution designed to do the things that the Commissioner’s talked about. And we also have these many great private sector health institutions and research institutions here. And of course, Bellevue Hospital which is one of the frontlines of responding to all of our public health crises.

We, in New York, are very proud of our ability – our local ability to address these situations. We have resources that we can divert to a crisis like this. We have the background and the resources and the knowledge to know what to do. We have the ingenuity and the adaptability that the Commissioner was talking about – zeroing in on what is the threat here, what are the different ways people can get this disease, and how can we best address that.

We also understand two important things that seem to be lost on our current Congress – one, public health crises are crises when we fail to realize that people are interconnected. We understand that here in New York. We understand that people in the Bronx, who might be suffering from this, are our concern just as they might be in our neighborhood. We also understand that public health crises become crises when they are not addressed early. A public health crisis that begins with neglect by the public sector explodes before we have an opportunity to address it and it becomes much more different to address going forward. Diseases spread exponentially.

And, so, this is a disease that is just beginning to affect the United States. We know it is already affecting much of the Western Hemisphere, and we know that even now no matter what we do it is going to increase and get worse in the United States before it gets better.

So, while we’re putting the resources we have in here, we know, first of all, that the best thing the federal government – the second best thing the federal government could do is assist us with our efforts here with the very labor intensive efforts of eradicating mosquitoes, with the research that we’re talking about, and with the testing, again, that has been put together on the fly by our wonderful Health Department.

But the best thing the federal government could do is address this crisis in places where it is growing already – in Florida and in Puerto Rico – where we know that it is not going to get contained, and more than that, we understand that the suffering there that is happening with families already that are American citizens, needs to be addressed because their problems are our problems too.

So, again, I’m very proud to join the Mayor, and to applaud all the work he and the commissioner is doing – very proud to join our congressional delegation in calling for real action by the federal government and real action now. And I urge the leaders in Congress to join us in this fight. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Speaking of leaders in Congress – I want to thank Congressman Jose Serrano who has been fighting from the beginning to get the proper federal attention on this matter. One of three members of the Congress from Puerto Rico originally who understands deeply what the Puerto Rican healthcare crisis means in terms of the Zika crisis, and one of many reasons why we need federal intervention now. I want to thank him for steadfastly standing up on this issue. Welcome, Congressman Serrano.

Congressman Jose Serrano: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. One correction – four members, actually five –

Mayor: Okay, wait, I’m counting wrong, then –

Congressman Serrano: There’s a resident commissioner but he doesn’t get to vote.

Mayor: Ah, hah, okay.

Congressman Serrano: That’s another issue for another day.

[Laughter]

Mayor: That’s a different press conference.

Congressman Serrano: And there is something that no one thought would ever happen – I don’t know how many of you are aware of it – there is a Republican from Idaho who was born in Puerto Rico.

Mayor: Okay, that’s different.

[Laughter]

Congressman Serrano: Being from Idaho, being born in Puerto Rico – one of those is different.

Thank you. Thank you to all, and hello to everyone. Sorry I’m late. But I was actually the first one at the City Hall press conference. I just wasn’t told that it had been switched to here, so, there I was ready to cover for all of you.

[Laughter]

And a special welcome to Adriano. I’ve made a list, Adriano, of where the paper clips are and all those things. And you’ll be fine.

[Inaudible]

You know New York, once again – and in this case under the leadership of our Mayor, commissioners, and all the folks that are here – is leading the way. There are people in this country who still do not believe that Zika is an oncoming problem that’s going to be huge. You don’t have to be a doctor to know it’s going to be huge. But we in New York have the ability to deal with this. We dealt with Ebola. Did we resolve the Ebola issue in the world? No. But we were able to contain it in a way where everybody thought it was going to be the end of New York, and we were able to do something for New York and for the country. Then we lived directly through the Legionnaires’ situation which took place totally within my congressional district. And we thought that that was going to be the end. We got it under control. I believe we can get this under control but what we have to do first is fully understand how serious this is, and where it is, and at what point it is.

Brazil is ground zero in the world. Puerto Rico is the ground zero under the American flag. And Florida is ground zero within the states. There’s a great relationship between Brazil and the Caribbean. There’s a great relationship between Puerto Rico and Florida – that people moving back and forth for years, and a lot of people moving now because of the fiscal crisis. And so, the spread of Zika is in danger of happening at any moment, any time. You hear reports – I was hearing a report from Puerto Rico this morning on one of the Spanish channels from Puerto Rico saying how young women are putting off getting pregnant three, four years because of the fear they have. Well, is that the way to do it? We don’t know. We need information. We need help.

The biggest problem we have is that I can’t believe – and by now Carolyn, I should believe anything that happens with those other folks – but the Republicans still do not see this as a crisis, as an oncoming crisis that’s going to devastate communities and hurt the country. And so, I want appointed to the Zika conference. And the Zika conference was supposed to come to an agreement – how much money, how much money to spend. And the number – the magical number we put out there is $1.9 billion. Number one – they didn’t ask for our input. You know, you’re not supposed to admit you weren’t included. Politicians don’t like to do that but they didn’t ask for our input. And they got off track and they began to talk about abortion, about women’s health, about Planned Parenthood, which had nothing to do – I mean you had a person who was running for President, and not the one you think, there are other crazies –

[Laughter]

This person actually said, no abortion even when the women is totally, totally infected with Zika. I mean it was just another issue brought on to the scene that did not belong there. So, what we’re doing, is we’re saying that we will continue to push the Republicans to give us the $1.9 billion, and secondly that we need everyone – Republican and Democrats – to let the folks know that this is serious, that this cannot be taken lightly, that this is something we haven’t seen in a long time, and this affects not only the health of people, it affects future populations. If people stop having children because they’re afraid, that’s something we don’t want to think about – not in this society, not at this time.

So, I want to thank everybody who’s here today. I want to take a second to do something Adriano did which was right –

[Senator Serrano speaks in Spanish]

We need you to listen to what public health officials, who know what they’re talking about – we just mouth what they tell us to say because they know what to say – to come together, follow instructions, and we will get over this as New Yorkers and as Americans, and we will help the world deal with this. But right now this is serious.

Lastly, at the expense of scaring you – but I’m not trying to scare you – keep in mind that while we celebrate the victories of Team USA and of Puerto Rico’s first gold medal, we also have to remember that there’s a whole Olympic team coming back from Brazil, and what does that mean? And what kind of testing should take place? And, so on.

So, let’s stay together, let’s work together, and the New Yorkers that we are, we thank our Mayor for bringing us together. We thank Carolyn Maloney for always thinking of having – I don’t think there’s a place in New York Carolyn hasn’t held a press conference yet. And we will continue to work on it but be sure – and I close with this – that we know how serious this is, and we won’t let this issue just simply disappear.

Thank you so much.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Congressman. We now are going to take questions on this topic. On the question of Zika. Go ahead.

Question: Mr. Mayor, I know you called on people to report cases of standing water – a lot of calls to 3-1-1 –

Mayor: Yep.

Question: But I [inaudible] toughen the laws when it comes to these zombie pools that are on private property where City workers don’t, necessarily, have a lot of access. Is that something that could be done locally? Is that something that you can support?

Mayor: Well, I need to know the legal considerations but the idea is a very good one in my view that we have to get at standing water where ever it is. And I’ll let the Commissioner speak to the meaning of the danger of standing water. But I certainly agree with the Council that we want additional tools to address it.

Commissioner Bassett: Thanks. One of the important things that the public can do is report standing water to us, and they’ve responded to that call very energetically with the number of reports being three to four times higher just now in mid-August than they were for the whole season last year. The Mayor mentioned the problem of access to private property. What we can do with these pools is put larvicides in them to kill the breeding mosquitoes. That’s why we worry about standing water. But I think it’s important to remember that the mosquito that we’re concerned about – Aedes Albopictus – is a very fastidious mosquito. It likes to breed in very small containers. So, people shouldn’t just be focused on pools – any small container, a planter, a bottle can constitute standing water that can become a breeding site. That you can handle yourself. But anytime you can’t handle it, we want people to call 3-1-1, and we will intervene.

Mayor: Let me just finish that point that while we’re working with the Council to figure out what will be effective, and obviously, what would be legally appropriate, that point about people calling in is so crucial. We can help. If someone has standing water they don’t know how to address, we can help. But it’s really important for everyone to understand at this point, this has been a fast growing disease. It has taken on forms that were unexpected. The best thing we can do in New York City is to kill the mosquitoes and get ahead of it. So, if people know of pools of standing water, please report them so that we can do the maximum to knock them out.

Question: Clearly, there’s some concern about mosquito elimination in the city but as of now there are no mosquitoes in New York City actually carrying the virus –

Mayor: Correct.

Question: Is there concern that there could be though?

Mayor: There’s always that concern. And let’s realize now, we have a two-track disease. We have the reality of the mosquito-borne element and we have the sexually transmitted element. We have to attack both at once. But in terms of the potential danger of mosquitoes, either migrating here or the mosquitoes that we have here become agents of transmission, that’s a real concern. We have not found that yet – I want to emphasize – and we’ve been constantly doing research. This is what happens in this very building. And I’ve seen the – met the researchers, seen them studying the mosquitoes. We have not found any evidence of that transmission here. But the best defense is a good offense. So, we’re going to be continuing our eradication efforts. That’s why getting at the standing water, you know, doing the spraying, doing the larvicides is crucial. We’ve doubled the amount compared to last year, and we’re going to keep going all the way to the end of mosquito season.

Question: I guess this question is more for the Congresswoman. If the Republicans in Congress have already proposed a package that you’re saying is too low, what’s the next step? You go back and you bring this note? And you’re like the President is bringing this much? What happens next? What are the time limits we’re talking about in terms of trying to get that money?

Congresswoman Maloney: We’re up against a wall because the health professionals in the federal government are telling us that we’re going to run out of money at the end of September. So, when we go back in September, we have to allocate more money. I think we should allocate the full $1.9 billion. As I said, I just got back from Africa, and I was on a global health mission, studying these diseases. And they put up this map on Ebola and they showed how quickly the disease had spread all over Liberia. And then we came in and helped – the whole world helped, and they contained it. They contained it and now it’s no longer that active. Although people who had it are now being treated. Now, all of this is sort of emerging. You don’t know how it’s going to emerge. They were very surprised that there were birth defects. They were very surprised that it was sexually transmitted.

And it’s just a matter of time, in my opinion, before it’s going to be transmitted by mosquitoes. That’s why this trial that the FDA has of these genetically modified mosquitoes that then breed, and then their off-spring die – they want to test that in Florida, and try to eradicate the mosquitoes there. The best time to attack these diseases are really in the beginning. And many of them start elsewhere but because we are a global city, we’re a global world, they’re going to come here. So, we have to contain it there and contain it here.

I must say – and I want to emphasize this – I’m amazed at what the City of New York has done by itself without any federal help. I went to the lab today to find out how much federal money was coming in, and they said they were doing it all on their own. I said, I’d like to be tested for Zika since I just got out of Zika infested areas, and they asked me if I was pregnant, I was very flattered. And they said [inaudible] unless you’re a high risk. So they have prioritized who they are testing and, you know, if I get symptoms they’ll test me, but if I don’t have symptoms they’re not going to test me. They’re testing pregnant women or women who could get pregnant because this microcephaly is terrible. It is a terrible, terrible condition. Some of the babies can’t live except with tubes, and they are deformed and their heads – their little heads – I held a little baby in Cape Verde, and they’re just not knowing what this is going to mean long range. And when we were at the Ebola hospital, they are now finding that those people who had Ebola are now having all kinds of eye sight problems. So with these diseases you never know how they’re going to emerge. I want to just emphasize how important it is. We have lost more Americans to these viruses and diseases than we’ve ever lost in any war. Just look at the series we’ve had, you know, SARS, Legionnaires’, Ebola, Zika, they just keep emerging, and we have to be there to combat them and maintain them and contain them.

Mayor: I want Doctor Bassett to speak to this point. It’s very important to understand why the focus on pregnant woman or women who may become pregnant, and why that’s the profound danger versus someone who would not be pregnant – what it means.

Commissioner Bassett: Zika testing is recommended for all pregnant women who have traveled to a Zika affected area and for anyone who’s symptomatic – anyone who has the symptoms of Zika. Now Zika is generally a very mild disease. For most people who get it, 80 percent of them, they don’t even know they’ve been infected – 80 percent of Zika infections are asymptomatic. For other people – for non-pregnant women – it’s self-limited, unpleasant, but full recovery is expected. People get fever, headache, joint pains, a rash, red eyes, and then it goes away in a couple of days. But the problem is that it’s transmitted from the mother to her baby, and that is the true victim of Zika – the developing baby. And that’s why we are so focused on protecting the pregnant woman. Now she needs to be mosquito-borne Zika. She also needs to be protected from the possibility of the sexual transmission of Zika, and that’s why a man who’s a partner of a woman who’s pregnant or trying to become pregnant has to be mindful of their travel. If they travel to an area where there’s Zika, when the comeback – even if they have no symptoms – we tell them that they shouldn’t have sex, or they should use barrier methods for eight weeks. And if they can’t go along with that kind of advice, then we tell them you better consider whether you want to travel of not. If you get symptomatic Zika you’re told to avoid having unprotected sex for six months, and of course if your partner is pregnant, whether you have symptoms or not you should have protected sex or not have sex for the duration of your pregnancy. So the whole focus here is on protecting the pregnant woman and the woman who’s trying to get pregnant since very few women know the instant they become pregnant. So she might be pregnant, you wouldn’t want to come back and discover that you were pregnant and if you were trying to get pregnant – come back from travel and find out that you were.

Question: Dr. Bassett you’ve said that the cases are now in the 480 range. I just want to confirm that there’s still only 3 Staten Islanders who’ve had Zika?

Commissioner Bassett: I haven’t looked at the updated numbers by borough, but we make those publicly available every Wednesday. The updated numbers are 483 New Yorkers with confirmed Zika infection and of them 49 pregnant women. Every Wednesday we make publicly available by borough the number of Zika cases.

Question: And you guys wouldn’t give out the demographic information for like specific borough cases – like the age or the sex?

Commissioner Bassett: We give out the range of ages for Zika infections. They range from 1 to 75. So we’re not – we’re very careful about protecting personal information.

Question: You were mentioning the recommendations not to have sex – or have protected sex – for about six weeks –

Commissioner Bassett: Eight weeks.

Question: Eight weeks, sorry. So how long do we know that the virus stays in the body? Do we know?

Commissioner Bassett: Right, that’s a very good question, and it’s the subject of ongoing study. We know that the virus can persist in semen for many days, and in fact, in in New York City we ask, and we’ve been very successful in recruiting men who’ve got Zika to participate in a study done by the Centers for Disease Control. But we – the more we learn about Zika, the long it seems that Zika can hang around, particularly in what are called ‘immune protected areas’ like the testes and semen.

Mayor: Just to amplify the question – do we have a baseline of how long we know at this point?

Commissioner Bassett: The recommendation of times to avoid having unprotected sex are in keeping with the most recent information that we have and are consistent with the recommendations for the Center for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and our State Health Department.
Question: Two part question – about those 49 women and who tested positive, do you guys have any ideas how many babies could possibly be born with microcephaly. And second, the $21 million has that been expended yet and does the city plan to put any more money into fighting the virus?

Commissioner Bassett: Should I take those?

Mayor: Take the first one, I’ll do the second one.

Commissioner Bassett: So the first question is what do we know about what the risk is if you’re a pregnant woman and you become infected with Zika. Now we don’t know it based on the women in New York City. All of them are enrolled in an ongoing study that’s being led by the federal Centers for Disease Control, but we do have information from studies. That risk range is from 1 to 13 percent, meaning that it seems to vary with the timing of pregnancy. The first trimester being the most dangerous time to become Zika infected, but we know that there are adverse outcomes – microcephaly being one – but there are others. For every single trimester of pregnancy – there’s no trimester of pregnancy in which it’s safe to be pregnant and get Zika.

Congresswoman Maloney: To add to that, in Cape Verde – where I was – they had 11 Zika babies that were born, and they said some of the mothers didn’t even show symptoms, so they didn’t even know that they had Zika. And they ended up with the deformed babies, and other that were very sick ended up with not deformed babies. I think the main thrust that Dr. Bassett is trying to give to us is we need more research. All of this is new and developing daily, and we’re struggling – I remember the health professional being shocked when they saw baby deformities, shocked when they found out it was sexually transmitted. So they really don’t know, and as I said, they’re still studying the impact of Ebola on people. What does it mean a year out, a month out, and the other ways that it affects their body, and they’re doing the same thing with Zika.

Congressman Serrano: I just wanted to make a quick comment on something that’s not foreign to us New Yorkers because we know the issue, but the media needs to help us and get this message across. We Americans are known worldwide as a people – a caring people – that when we know there’s an epidemic somewhere, we get involved. And so we will again. But some people have come up to me and said why do we mention Puerto Rico so much? There are two reasons. One because it has a very serious problem. And two, and I don’t know how many New Yorkers don’t know this since New York is the capital of Puerto Rico, everybody born in Puerto Rico is an American citizen, and it’s a part of the United States. Therefore when we speak about our country we’re speaking of Puerto Rico also. That doesn’t mean we’re not paying attention to what’s happening in other countries as we did with Ebola and others, but that’s one of the reasons. One because it is ground zero under the American flag and two because they are American citizens therefore we have to care for them the way we care for each other.

Mayor: Amen. Well said.

On the previous question of the budget – so that money has not been fully spent, it’s a multi-year plan. We obviously hope in the meantime the federal government will step in because this is an international health crisis, ergo the responsibility of the federal government just like an international security threat would be the responsibility of the federal government. But we’re going to continue doing all that we have to do to protect New Yorkers. What worries me is when the federal government thinks – in this case the Republicans in Congress – they can leave everything to localities without ever providing any resources. There are a lot of localities that couldn’t mount any kind of effort. They’re really struggling to begin with, and they wouldn’t be able to do anything new to protect their people from Zika and that again creates a threat for everyone including New Yorkers. If there are, you know, small towns and counties in Florida or Texas that can’t afford to the public health work necessary, those folks then travel here. It endangers us. It obviously endangers people back in those states, so this is why a federal response is necessary. It has to be consistent and it has to be well resourced.

Okay, who hasn’t had a chance yet?

Question: I was going to ask – obviously we’re at the height of mosquito season right now, and it makes the threat of this really imminent, particularly for the federal government, but is the threat going to feel less – is there going to be less pressure to pass the spending package as we move into the fall and the cooler months?

Mayor: I would say it a little differently. I think you’re right that there’s something very visceral, very human about the fact that people are swatting away mosquitos right now and so are the members of Congress when they go to their home districts, and they’re hearing from their constituents. But as we see more and more people infected, as we see more and more babies – and as the Congresswoman so powerfully explained what she saw – I think that’s going to create more of a sense of there has to be action. So I don’t think this intensity ends at the end of mosquito season, but I’d say also we better get a solution before the end of mosquito season because every day we’re waiting – as the Congresswoman said – if we don’t get to a vaccine there’s a lot of danger here.

Question: I’m curious of as to what research or knowledge the lab in New York City is sharing with Latin Americans countries and Caribbean countries?

Commissioner Bassett: One thing that we’ve done, several months ago, is we sent a million condoms to Puerto Rico, and we have another million on the way. So that is obviously one way to assist in addressing and reducing the risk of sexual transmission, which is so important when we talk about protecting the pregnant woman. We offered the first million. They asked for the second million, and we were very happy to provide them. We also are in conversation with the ministries of health in both Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. And we are in conversation with them about lending direct technical assistance with personnel.

Mayor: Any other questions?

Question: I wanted to ask Congressman Serrano, how do you plan to persuade the Republicans to cough up the $1.9 billion?

Congressman Serrano: To continue to pressure, to continue – we have a great word in Spanish – to be a nudge. I will continue to do that. I think the Mayor said it best, and it was something we’ve been thinking about. This August recess – which a lot of people criticize – gives you an opportunity to go back home and listen to people. And I’m sure that at many of these townhall meetings people who ordinarily would not vote for this are hearing from their constituents this is a problem. I’m sure the Florida delegation is coming on board very quickly. And they also got questions related to this, such as why did my local gymnast drop out of the Olympics? Well he dropped out of the Olympics because he’s afraid of the Zika virus in Brazil, so there are a lot of things at play that I think the Congress we will get back in September – and I’m not being overly optimistic – will be much more aware and much more under pressure to do something and that will help us continue to push.

Congresswoman Maloney: I would say you are all part of the solution. Part of what we’re going today is trying to persuade our colleagues and others of the urgency of it. I just got back from Africa, and I felt like we had to say something, and do something, and raise awareness. What we do – Serrano and myself and others – we take your articles and we send them to all our colleagues who aren’t supporting it and we do Dear Colleagues with them because it’s something about an independent voice that then comes in that’s not a party voice. So the press plays a tremendous role I would in impacting public opinion. We also intend to reach out to the editorial boards across this country, to editorially support it. But I can assure you, all of your articles that support the funding are going to be sent to our colleagues.

Mayor: Excellent. Okay, final questions on Zika? Go ahead.

Question: Is there specific people – or specific individuals within the Congress who are just opposed to any funding or just no more funding than the, you know, some small amount?

Congresswoman Maloney: It’s a party decision. The Republicans countered President Obama’s proposal with $800 million less than what he requested, and then put poison pills on it. We have a health emergency where Dr. Bassett and others have said we want to prevent exposure of pregnant women to Zika or women that are Zika exposed from becoming pregnant, but they are opposed to any contraceptives. They’re opposed to any money for condoms like what the City just did for Puerto Rico, they’re opposed to any education or anything that would  – and these ideological fights have no place in a fight for life and a fight for public policy and for saving lives. This is about saving lives, and if you can contain these crises then a lot of lives are saved. If we don’t contain it, we have a headache personified.

Question: I have a question for the Congressman. If you can answer in Spanish, it would be great.

[Continues in Spanish]

Congressman Serrano: [Answers in Spanish]

Something I didn’t say in Spanish, but I’ll say in English, then in Spanish. In addition, you know, pretty soon we’re going to have presidential debates. I think the first one is September 1, right about the time we go back. I assure you this will be a subject so I’m – again –

[Continues in Spanish]

Mayor: Thanks, everyone.