16 dead and 400 affected in a town of 3.5 million...and this is a crisis? Maybe Congress needs to define or redefine the meaning of “crisis”.
If you are one of the 400 with the disease, through no fault of your own, then yes, it is a crisis... to you !!
Each one of those 400 might have a family, a spouse, and perhaps children. The likelihood of spreading grows exponentially.
Lets say 10 of them take a trip to another state on vacation, and are unaware that they are active carriers, since they have no symptoms.
This has the potential of spreading like influenza, affecting not just the homeless, but also the commuters who work, or the school teacher, or the athlete in a lockeroom.
Because it is infectious, all the residents are potentially susceptible, not just the homeless.
Health authorities are trying to 'nip it in the bud', and contain this infectious disease, in its early stage of development.