The insecticide was used in the first outbreak zone in the Miami area, the Wynwood neighborhood, but initially health officials said they didn’t anticipate spraying in Miami Beach due to the high-rise towers.
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Four of the new travel-related cases involved pregnant women, which is a particular concern since Zika can lead to severe birth defects.
And Miami-Dade County mayor Carlos A. Gimenez added, “The fact that we have identified a fourth Zika-positive mosquito pool in Miami Beach serves as further confirmation that we must continue our proactive and aggressive approach to controlling the mosquito population, including our recent decision to begin aerial spraying in combination with larvicide treatment by truck”.
This prompted a protest outside Miami Beach city hall.
The US has used Naled since the 1950s, and sprays it on about 16 million acres nationwide annually. It is used primarily for controlling adult mosquitoes, but is also used on food and feed crops, and in greenhouses. This and sunset are when the mosquitoes carrying Zika are most active. The aerial spraying was in addition to the ground spraying. Health officials use it to prevent mosquitoes after disasters such as hurricanes and floods, according to the CDC.
Sprayers produce fine droplets that are small enough to stay airborne and intercept mosquitoes in flight. They say the amount sprayed is about two tablespoons for an area about the size of a football field.
Another round is scheduled for Sunday and for the next weekends after that, reports NBC News. “This schedule will minimize disruption to our school children and families”.
The state Department of Health on Friday reported 12 new travel-related cases of Zika, with seven in Miami-Dade, two in Broward County, and one each in Hillsborough, Okaloosa and Orange counties.
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In this photo taken July 13, 2016, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Frieden, the head of the government’s fight against the Zika virus said that “we are now essentially out of money” and warned that the country is “about to see a bunch of kids born with microcephaly” in the coming months.
