South Florida To Boost Zika Battle Plan For Rainy Season

South Florida health officials announced their plans in order to prevent the spread of Zika virus during the rainy season. The plan included fumigating more breeding grounds and beefing up more laboratories.

Governor Rick Scott worked with community leaders and told residents to remain aware and take precautionary measures against the virus. They discussed the plans at a community roundtable on Monday at the Department of Health in Miami. Scott said although they have plans for the whole community, residents should individually take action by not allowing standing water, wearing protective clothing and using bug repellents.

For the year 2017, the Florida Department of Health reported 18 travel-related cases in the Miami-Dade and Broward counties. In 2016, officials recorded 525 travel-related cases in the same counties. He said if people will travel to Zika-infected countries, they should take extra precaution for the next three or four weeks in order to prevent the spread of the virus, Miami Herald shared.

Scott also discussed the $25 million grant they received, which is used in speeding up the vaccine process. Scott and Miami-Dade Mayor, Carlos Gimenez, assured more resources to control mosquitoes and more income to address medical care for infants and families infected with Zika. Miami-Dade county also planned to hire 42 more workers for mosquito control, WLRN revealed.

The new plans laid out by the local government unit of the state came after officials announced that three counties, including Miami-Dade, might have their sperm donations infected with the virus. They urged women to take precaution and think about getting pregnant at this time. One of the most common effects of the virus is microcephaly in babies infected with the virus.

There are no current active transmission zones in Florida. Health officials continue to make improvements regarding the efforts to fight Zika, which started in Florida last year due to travel-related transmission.