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State And Local Officials Declare Wynwood Free Of Locally Transmitted Zika

Florida Gov. Rick Scott speaks at a press conference in Wynwood, surrounded by other state and local officials, including state Surgeon General Celeste Philip, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez and City of Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado.
C.M. Guerrero
/
El Nuevo Herald
Florida Gov. Rick Scott speaks at a press conference in Wynwood, surrounded by other state and local officials, including state Surgeon General Celeste Philip, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez and City of Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado.

 

Good news forWynwoodresidents and businesses: State and local officials said Monday theZikavirus is no longer being locally transmitted in the area.

Forty-five days -- three mosquito incubation periods -- have passed without reports of new local infections, and according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, that means local transmission has likely ended.

"This is what we hoped would happen," Florida Gov. Rick Scott said at a press conference with state and local officials at Wynwood Walls. "We had an issue, everyone took it seriously and resolved it."

The CDC did not significantly change its guidance for travel to the Wynwood area. In a press release issued Monday, the agency upgraded Wynwood's status to a "cautionary travel recommendation"  area, like the rest of Miami-Dade County. It says pregnant women who travel to Wynwood and other portions of Miami-Dade should continue to take precautions against mosquito bites and may want to consider postponing nonessential travel.

Scott encouraged Florida residents and visitors to return to Wynwood.

"Everybody should be coming back here and enjoy themselves," Scott said. "We need to come back to Wynwood. We need to come to restaurants. We need to come to galleries. We need to do it as quickly as possible. So many of these businesses have been impacted."

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez said that aerial spraying is over in Wynwood for the time being. He also addressed questions about the Zika zone in Miami Beach, telling reporters aerial spraying there will not be expanded even though the zone was extended Friday evening to stretch from Eighth Street to 63rd Street.

"I follow the recommendations of the experts," Giménez said. "We will not do additional aerial spraying outside of the one-and-a-half-square-mile area unless the CDC and the state of Florida Department of Health and the surgeon general recommend that’s what we need to do."

The CDC is still advising pregnant women to avoid travel to Miami Beach. Another round of aerial spraying -- which some Miami Beach residents strongly oppose, despite assurances that the pesticide is safe in the extremely low concentrations used during spraying -- is scheduled there for Sunday.

Also at the press conference, Florida’s  surgeon general, Dr. Celeste Philip, addressed questions about ongoing delays for Zika test results. As  WLRN has reported, there have been hundreds of pregnant women waiting to get theirZikatest results back—sometimes weeks after the tests have been processed by the state.

“This volume of lab testing is quite unusual,” said Philip. “It happens only when we are in these kinds of situations. Probably the last time was during H1N1, but for flu there are rapid tests.”

She did not say why it’s taking so long for women to get their results once the tests are completed. 

Copyright 2020 WLRN 91.3 FM. To see more, visit WLRN 91.3 FM.

Kate Stein can't quite explain what attracts her to South Florida. It's more than just the warm weather (although this Wisconsin native and Northwestern University graduate definitely appreciates the South Florida sunshine). It has a lot to do with being able to travel from the Everglades to Little Havana to Brickell without turning off 8th Street. It's also related to Stein's fantastic coworkers, whom she first got to know during a winter 2016 internship.Officially, Stein is WLRN's environment, data and transportation journalist. Privately, she uses her job as an excuse to rove around South Florida searching for stories à la Carl Hiaasen and Edna Buchanan. Regardless, Stein speaks Spanish and is always thrilled to run, explore and read.
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