Florida's governor authorizes $10M more for Zika response
- by Douglas Reid
- in Health Care
- — Sep 18, 2016
Florida Governor Rick Scott announced on Friday night that the area of Miami Beach where the Zika virus is being actively transmitted by mosquitoes has now tripled in size, according to the Miami Herald.
Scott also announced plans to lift the local transmission zone in the Miami neighborhood of Wynwood on Monday.
September 16, 2016: One mosquito sample from a small area in Miami Beach tested positive for Zika.
Business owners and analysts say if Zika infections persist in Miami and a 1.5-square-mile portion of Miami Beach, visitors who have been waiting to make reservations in Miami-Dade County may turn elsewhere.
The total number of non-travel related cases associated with the expanded impacted area on Miami Beach is 35, and the total number of non-travel related cases in Florida is 93.
Scoot's expansion announcement came soon after the news of two new cases of Zika virus in the original zone surface, south of 28th Street.
The announcement will likely be followed by an expanded travel advisory warning pregnant women not to go to active transmission zones.
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More than 3,200 mosquito samples containing more than 52,000 mosquitoes have been tested since May and these five samples are the only ones to test positive.
The positive mosquito pool announced yesterday was collected in Miami Beach within the current zone that has been treated for local transmission.
Carlos Varas, a Miami-Dade County mosquito control inspector, looks for places that might hold breeding mosquitos carrying the Zika virus on September 2, 2016 in Miami Beach, Florida.
This is the fifth time a sample has tested positive for the Zika virus, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Protesters have filled City Hall twice to oppose the spraying of naled, a neurotoxin considered effective at killing the Aedes aegypti mosquito that can carry Zika.
Miami Beach officials are hoping to minimize Zika's effect on the local economy. The Fontainebleau hotel has had its worst three weeks in 15 years.
Scott has also authorized another $10 million in state funds to fight Zika virus. "I spoke to him on the phone this evening", he said. The money will be spent in mosquito control, increased lab capacity for testing and purchase of Zika prevention kits from the CDC.
