Florida Governor Rick Scott said Wednesday it is safe to travel to the state despite Florida health officials reporting 15 new travel-related Zika cases statewide.
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“I think there is scientific rationale for why that is important”, she said after a meeting of government officials in Miami Beach, the latest area hit by locally-transmitted Zika cases.
The number of non-travel related cases in Florida now stands at 43, with the majority having occurred in Miami-Dade County.
Florida is home to popular tourist destinations like Walt Disney World (NYSE:DIS). But 14 cases of Zika infections caused by mosquito bites in the United States have been announced by health officials, leading to worries of an expanding local spread.
According to a state report released last week, one Californian was infected with Zika due to sexual transmission, and 24 pregnant women in California have been infected with Zika.
“Congress and the White House have not been good partners”, Scott said. Crews will continue to aggressively spray for Zika virus in affected areas, Scott said. Maryland has 77 travel-associated cases, and no locally acquired ones. The Rio 2016 organizing committee is anxious about the rapid spread of the Zika virus in Brazil, but has not yet seen evidence of people canceling travel to the Olympics in August, communications director Mario Andrada said on Tuesday.
Use EPA-registered insect repellents containing diethyltoluamide (DEET), picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE) or IR3535. “Additionally, Zika-related information has been posted in various locations on campus”. The state says it is actively monitoring all pregnant women with Zika infection in California.
“As new scientific and epidemiological information regarding Zika virus has become available, it’s clear that additional precautionary measures are necessary”, the FDA’s acting chief scientist, Luciana Borio, said in the statement.
The Department of Health knocked on doors informing people of the Zika risk, passing out kits and even collecting urine samples.
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“We got very aggressive mosquito abatement efforts”.
