ZIKA FALLOUT: Hard Times Coming in the Caribbean.

Zika continues to evolve into an ever-scarier health threat—and that’s not just bad news for locals in the Caribbean and Central America who might be exposed to the disease. It’s bad for all the countries that depend on winter tourism. We’ve said it before, but it’s worth saying again: the Caribbean is not in good shape. Venezuela continues to move toward chaos and civil conflict; drug smuggling remains so dominant that many economies are being bought up by drug lords; the opening of Cuba, while good for that island, will provide competition to many other tourist islands with few other revenue options; and now this.

For Americans this means more migration, including illegals and unescorted children, and possibly a less safe neighborhood. And American citizens in Southern states are also at risk directly from infection. Fighting Zika therefore should be a priority.

While we’re not doctors or scientists, as a political, public health, and foreign policy matter, the broad priorities would seem to be, firstly, to find a way to kill the mosquitoes that carry the disease, even if that means taking another look at banned pesticides. At the same time, we need to be developing tests and treatments for the disease on a crash basis. Then, there’s hunt for the long term solution—a vaccine.

Indeed.