I'm not taking Zika lightly. Especially being older, I definitely am going everywhere protected. I'm protecting myself.
First, the federal government, one of the fundamental responsibilities that it has is to protect the nation's health and wellbeing. And this [Zika virus] is a threat to public health in the United States. It is a very serious disease.
We have seen how Zika has become a very serious problem in Brazil, in other parts of Latin America, in this hemisphere. During the summer it can arrive very quickly here in south Florida, in the whole state. In a very hot climate in summer, where mosquitos begin to spread very quickly, it's a very serious threat.
Not a lot of attention has been paid to the Asian tiger mosquito, which is another species which we believe can also transmit Zika virus. It has a much broader range. It's found all the way north into coastal areas of Connecticut, Long Island and the New York metro area.
We can't be playing around with these issues [Zika disease], because this can become very serious very quickly, as we have seen in Brazil and other countries. The funds are going to be used at the state level, but it is important for the federal government to cooperate in the federal government's role.
The federal government has the responsibility to protect the nation's public health, to protect us from foreign threats. And it [Zika] really is an illness that we are seeing arrive from abroad. So it is a threat to public health, and it is the federal government's job to cooperate in this.
