72 billion dollars. 10,690 people.
What do these two have in common? Puerto Rico's atrocious debt. The truth is, as steep and complex the factors behind the debt crisis are, one thing has remained clear, the island's problems go far beyond an economic calamity. The Obama administration declared a public health emergency because it became very apparent with the mosquitoes sinking their proboscis in the island and infecting the inhabitants, Puerto Rico is bracing itself for the worse while already swimming in a sea of misfortune and misery.
In 1990, Puerto Rico's population was at 3.55 million and before 2005 it rose to a little over 3.80 million. By the 2010's the population experienced a steady decline and is now at an estimated 3.5 million. Over 300,000 Puerto Ricans outmigrated the island to settle in the States in the hopes of a better way of life.
The Puerto Ricans who fled and inhabited Florida, are already predicted to have major effects on the upcoming presidential race. Florida, in the past, have proved to be a swing state and might be largely Democratic in this election. Puerto Ricans know with the island's current state, only a Democratic presidential candidate is able to secure for them a livable future, and with the promises Clinton has made with securing jobs for the working class, now more than ever, jobs are what a Puerto Rican family desperately needs.
As previously reported, "the number of residents living at or below the poverty level exceeds 45 percent" compared with the national average which is 16 percent. The Puerto Rican labor forcce is at 39.7 percent which is significantly lower to the States' average of 62.7 percent. The population in Puerto Rico being 23 percent of the residents are 65 and older play a force for this data.
Source: U.S Census Bureau 2013 American community survey.
The territory began to experience true economical collapse in 2006, but the island previously had a long history of "poor fiscal performance." The government long since ran out of money to keep itself open and has relied on "unprecedented emergency measures like intra-government loans and delaying income tax refunds to keep services running." Important foundations in the lives of Puerto Ricans suffer immensely as the government continues to fail its people miserably.
The education system is in shambles. The future of Puerto Rico's children is in jeopardy because schools close down due to the government using funds in other sectors to aid its citizens. Moreover, teachers are not being paid for their hard work and in turn are out of jobs; adding to the outmigration and the very low labor force number. The schools that remain open meanwhile, are barely able to run and teachers are forced to use extreme measures to ensure that the resources provided to them last as long as possible.
Now, Zika is proving that Puerto Rico is its pillaging ground. The American government can no longer ignore that there was also a healthcare collapse in the country. Dangerous diseases governing the state of the country was a long time coming.
On Friday August 12, the U.S secretary for Health and Human Services declared a state of emergency because the Zika virus has infected an estimated 10,690 people and 1/10th of that number includes pregnant women. They've estimated that the number of the people infected with the Zika Virus is actually higher because most people infected with the disease show no symptoms and most likely won't go to the doctors for a blood work. One can't help but wonder, with the outmigration of the population, won't the supposed infected largely affect the U.S states they go inhabiting? The CDC has a complete list of Zika case counts in the U.S if you want more information about Zika case counts in your state or U.S territory.
In order to fully understand how exactly Zika is infecting so many we need to take a closer look at how the healthcare system is treated by the government in Puerto Rico.
Life saving services are ceasing aid, hospitals are forced to close their doors, and doctors leave because they can no longer provide proper aid and are not being paid. These are only the few problems that embroil the Puerto Rican healthcare system. In order to fully understand how exactly Zika is infecting so many we need to take a closer look at the healthcare system in Puerto Rico.
