As Congress returns, Zika aid must be priority No. 1

First-century folklore has it that as the grand city of Rome burned in the great fire of A.D. 64, the incompetent, immoral and ineffective Emperor Nero fiddled – literally on his violin.

Twenty centuries later, a similar but very real tale of lethargic leadership and wanton neglect is playing out as a public-health crisis worsens by the day in the Americas.

In this scenario, the U.S. Congress has assumed the role of Nero. Our national legislators have been fiddling away valuable time on vacation and along self-serving campaign trails the past seven weeks while the nation sinks deeper and deeper into the clutches of the menace.

That menace, of course, is the Zika virus. It has been seven long months since the Barack Obama administration asked U.S. representatives and senators for $1.9 billion in funding to develop a vaccine, top-flight diagnostic tests and rapid-response teams for Zika mosquito clusters that are detected.

Throughout the spring and summer, Zika became a tawdry political hot potato tossed between Republican and Democratic representatives and senators on Capitol Hill. Despite compelling and repeated pleas from the administration of Obama, the CDC and the World Health Organization, our largely do-nothing legislators lived up to their reputation by failing to authorize one single penny toward taming Zika. Instead, they played cruel games and loaded the funding request with political poison-pill provisions.

ZIKA TOLL IS MOUNTING

As the virus began to spread more rapidly in the U.S. this summer, Congress ignored our calls and those from many others to return to Washington to act on Zika assistance. As they finally limp their way back to work next week for yet another abbreviated election-year session, Americans cannot settle for additional inaction and intransigence.

Just consider the increasing toll the virus has taken just in the two months since their summer recess began:

The total number of Zika cases reported in the U.S. and its territories has catapulted from about 6,400 to nearly 17,000, according to data released this week from the CDC.

The number of home-grown cases – not tied to any tropical travel returnees has grown to 46. When Congress left on its hiaitus, that number was 0.

Florida officials this week found the very first Zika virus-positive mosquito pool in the continental United States.

At the same time, the cupboard of available resources to fight the virus has grown nearly bare.

Clearly, speed has not been the strong suit of Congress, but speed is precisely what is acutely needed. Without timely action, the number of people infected will only continue to multiply exponentially. Lest we lose track of the big picture, let us remind Congress that Zika can trigger encephaly, a severe brain disorder, that results in a baby born with a shrunken head. It’s also been linked to severe neurological disorders.

It’s perfectly understandable then that Americans are fed up with the heartless political antics in our nation’s capital. A new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that three-fourths of Americans urge Congress to make the allocation of more funding to deal with Zika an “important” or “top priority” when they return to Washington next week.

It’s long past time for Congress to start listening to them and stop fiddling around.