Five cases of Zika have been connected to Miami Beach, bringing the state’s caseload to 36 infections not related to travel outside the U.S., Gov. Rick Scott said at a news conference.
On Thursday, Scott’s office adamantly disputed reports that mosquitoes were transmitting Zika in Miami Beach, despite multiple health officials telling reporters that indeed was the case. Scott said that among the five cases there are people from New York, Texas and Taiwan who were infected in the Miami Beach area. A resident of that state who visited Miami recently has tested positive for the virus, state health officials said in a statement.
“We believe we have a new area where local transmission is occurring in Miami Beach”, the governor said.
The area in Miami Beach is limited to 1½ square miles, Scott said, running from the beach to the Intracoastal Waterway and from Eighth Street to 28th Street. In Miami-Dade, the agency has identified at least four cases of apparently mosquito-borne Zika that occurred outside of the two areas identified for active transmissions.
“Two of these individuals are Florida residents and live in Miami-Dade County”, Scott said.
At least 529 pregnant women in the continental US and Hawaii have been infected with Zika, according to the CDC. The disorder can cause paralysis, and Zika-affected countries have seen more cases, which the researchers say could be the result of losing neural progenitor cells.
Scott and Florida Surgeon General Dr. That zone includes the majority of Ocean Drive, the city’s famed Art Deco district, most of the barrier island’s premier hotels, and many of Miami Beach’s popular nightclubs. All of the OH cases were brought back to the state by infected travelers returning from Zika-plagued countries, including Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
South Florida’s hospitality industry has dreaded the possibility of Zika spreading to Miami Beach because the region’s economy relies heavily on its $24 billion-a-year tourism industry.
The total number of travel-associated Zika cases has jumped statewide by nearly 50 percent in the last three weeks, from 114 recorded on July 29 to 170 by Friday, according to the state’s department of public health.
But the discussions on Thursday morning between the county health department and Miami Beach officials, along with an email from City Manager Jimmy Morales, indicated that Zika was spreading in Miami Beach and likely had met CDC guidelines for confirmed transmission of the disease. He also ordered the health department to counsel businesses on mosquito abatement. Mosquito-control workers will likely have to spray pesticides contained in backpacks on taller buildings, Frieden said.
The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,800 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infection in the mothers.
Mosquito control may also be more hard in Miami Beach, where the many high-rise buildings prevent aerial spraying.
The CDC took the unprecedented step earlier this month to warn pregnant women to avoid the Wynwood neighborhood that’s located north of downtown. The CDC also cautioned pregnant women from any unnecessary travel to all of Miami-Dade County. Scott emphasized a public information campaign by the state’s college and university systems to inform their students about the threat of Zika and how to prevent it.