Gov. Rick Scott announced Monday that Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood was no longer considered a zone of active Zika transmission. The updated CDC warning now includes the Wynwood neighborhood as part of the more general, less stringent guidelines covering all of Miami-Dade County, though it continues to advise that men and women who traveled to Wynwood any time between June 15 and September 18 should wait at least eight weeks before trying to become pregnant.
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Gov. Rick Scott said Monday it’s been 45 days since the last Zika infection in Wynwood.
Other scientists, including Emory University Dr. Barry Ryan, have said that while naled can be risky, it is the lesser of two evils in Miami’s fight against Zika.
Aggressive aerial spraying with naled, an insecticide that targets adult mosquitoes, and Bti, which kills mosquito larva, was used to reduce the number of the type of mosquitoes that spread the virus. In his press conference he stated “This would not have been possible without aggressive mosquito control measures, outreach to the community, education efforts and the vigilant actions of the residents and businesses in Wynwood”.
“We had an issue, everybody took it seriously, and we solved it”, Scott said.
Local transmission caused the state and the Centers for Disease Control to create a boxed area of the Wynwood region where officials said the virus was spreading.
“The message with Wynwood is it was a huge success”, said Dr. Lyle Petersen of the CDC.
Gimenez did say that spraying to combat the virus would continue in the Wynwood area – but no more flights will be done to drop pesticide on the area.
The Zika virus often has faint symptoms like those of a very mild form of dengue fever, if any. “Our Department of Economic Opportunity has been in Wynwood offering businesses low interest loans”, Scott said.
Although Scott urged residents to support the art galleries and patronize restaurants in the trendy Wynwood neighborhood during a celebration day at the end of month, federal health officials were much more cautious. The state Health Department said the infection zone still includes much of the seven-mile long island on Friday. Still, the ongoing presence of Zika-positive mosquitoes in the neighborhood prompted The Miami Herald to file suit against Miami-Dade this week in hopes that the County will disclose the precise locations of all Zika-positive mosquito samples.
Callahan says he is “emphatic” that aerial spraying for the Aedes aegpyti mosquito simply does not work. A fourth is scheduled Saturday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to ask pregnant women and their partners to take precautions to prevent mosquito bites if they travel to or live in Wynwood.
31 non travel related cases were associated with the neighborhood.
Zika is a particular threat to pregnant women because the virus can cause serious birth defects in babies whose mothers were infected during pregnancy, including microcephaly, a condition in which the brain is undersized, reflecting arrested development. “Everybody should come back to enjoy themselves”. He couldn’t estimate how much Zika had affected his business, but he questioned whether the response to the outbreak was proportionate to the risk.
The lifting of the state travel warning was welcome news for city officials and business owners like Joseph Furst, who said they have “suffocated” during the 49 days that the travel warning was in effect. Those afflicted commonly have a fever or rash, red, itchy eyes, muscle pain and fatigue, if they show any symptoms at all. Still, the CDC says pregnant women or those seeking to become pregnant need to be cautious.
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“They tell you that you can’t eat sushi, and they tell you that you can’t eat soft cheese, and they tell that you can’t drink, right?” “Zika or no Zika, things can happen”.
