MIAMI, Oct. 13 (UPI) — A second area of Miami has been designated as a Zika transmission zone after state health officials confirmed five new locally acquired cases of the virus.
The Florida Department of Health designated a one-square-mile area in Miami-Dade County a Zika transmission zone, adding the Little River neighborhood to Miami Beach as areas where mosquitoes are spreading the virus.
The addition of a second zone comes about a month after health officials dropped warnings for the Wynwood area of Miami, which was the site of the first locally transmitted cases of Zika.
The state designated Little River a transmission zone after confirming two women and three men contracted the virus in the area. Of the five people, three live in the one-square-mile area and the other two either work in or have visited the area.
“Today’s announcement of a new area in Miami of ongoing local transmission of the Zika virus underscores the urgent need for federal funding to combat the Zika virus,” Florida Governor Rick Scott said in a press release. “It has been two weeks since federal funding to fight Zika was approved by Congress and signed by President Obama. However, Florida has not yet received a dime. We don’t need bureaucratic timelines — we need funding now.”
Scott said he has asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to work with Miami-Dade County’s Mosquito Control District to identify tactics to approach the spread of Zika in Little River.
“We have seen that aggressive mosquito control efforts have worked in areas like Wynwood, and we hope the county also aggressively sprays in this area, so we can limit the spread of this virus and protect pregnant women and their growing babies,” Scott said.
