As the Florida Zika cases increase, a major credit-rating agency has warned the virus could have an impact on the state’s tourism industry and related revenues, including sales taxes, gas taxes and hotel bed taxes.
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And in June, Senate Democrats blocked a bill that would have provided $1.1 billion in funding to fight Zika, accusing Republicans of filling the bill with unrelated and politically charged provisions like restrictions on Planned Parenthood, the women’s health organization.
Hillary Clinton will call on Congress to return to Washington and pass emergency funding for the Zika response during a visit to a Miami neighborhood dealing with the first USA outbreak of the disease. A reported 14 individuals have been infected with the Zika virus by local mosquitoes.
Florida is investigating a new case of Zika infection outside the neighborhood in Miami where mosquitoes are believed to have spread the virus to more than a dozen people, officials said Monday.
“If the department identifies any area of concern in Palm Beach County, we will notify the public immediately”. “With the announcement of this new case, and the upcoming new school year, I have directed DOH and DOE to closely work together to ensure students, parents, educators and district leaders have all the resources and guidance they need to combat the Zika virus”.
Pregnant women in Manatee County and those planning to get pregnant in the near future are not in a Zika panic mode, but they are concerned and want information.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends special precautions for women who are pregnant or may become pregnant. Most of those cases, however, were contracted overseas, where the virus is more prevalent.
Cayman joins most of the rest of the Caribbean, along with Central America, South America and the USA state of Florida to have local transmission of the virus.
The Governor’s Office says the person recently traveled to Miami-Dade County. “We’ve been asked, ‘Why not all of Miami?'” CDC Director Tom Frieden said during a visit there last week.
Aside from mosquitoes, Zika can be spread through sexual contact in some cases, the CDC notes.
Still, the threat of Zika spreading continues to linger and the fear of contracting the virus for moms-to-be continues to grow. Zika can cause severe birth defects if a woman is infected during pregnancy. New York, like Florida, has also had a baby born with a Zika virus-related defect.
Mosquito control says, the chemical, called BTI is harmless and effective.
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Clinton, who supports the bill, has previously addressed the congressional gridlock in a Sun Sentinel op-ed, where she wrote that Congress “needs to act quickly to provide federal emergency funding”.
