Department of Health Daily Zika Update – Monroe Case
Tallahassee, Fla.—In an effort to keep Florida residents and visitors safe and aware about the status of the Zika virus, the department will issue a Zika virus update each week day. Updates will include a Zika case count by county and information to keep Floridians informed and prepared. In order to keep the public informed, the department has posted our investigation process here.
There are 19 new travel related cases today including 11 in Miami-Dade, four in Broward, one in Brevard, one in Monroe, one in Pasco and one in St. Johns. Please visit our website to see the full list of travel-related cases.
There are no new non-travel related cases today.
DOH continues door-to-door outreach and targeted testing in Pinellas, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties and mosquito abatement and reduction activities are also taking place around the locations that are being investigated. DOH believes ongoing transmission is only taking place within the small identified areas in Wynwood and Miami Beach in Miami-Dade County, see maps below.
One case does not mean ongoing active transmission is taking place. DOH conducts a thorough investigation by sampling close contacts and community members around each case to determine if additional people are infected. If DOH finds evidence that active transmission is occurring in an area, the media and the public will be notified.
For a complete breakdown of non-travel and travel-related Zika infections to-date, please see below.
| Infection Type | Infection Count |
| Travel-Related Infections of Zika | 596 |
| Non-Travel Related Infections of Zika | 56 |
| Infections Involving Pregnant Women | 80 |
The department is currently conducting 14 investigations. Information regarding the investigations can be found here. If investigations reveal additional areas of active transmission, the department will announce a defined area of concern.
The department has conducted Zika virus testing for more than 6,089 people statewide. Florida currently has the capacity to test 5,589 people for active Zika virus and 6,392 for Zika antibodies. At Governor Scott’s direction, all county health departments now offer free Zika risk assessment and testing to pregnant women.
Florida’s small case cluster is not considered widespread transmission, however, pregnant women are advised to avoid non-essential travel to the impacted area in Miami-Dade County (see map below). If you are pregnant and must travel or if you live or work in the impacted area, protect yourself from mosquito bites by wearing insect repellent, long clothing and limiting your time outdoors.
According to CDC guidance, providers should consider testing all pregnant women with a history of travel to a Zika affected area for the virus. It is also recommended that all pregnant women who reside in or travel frequently to the area where active transmission is likely occurring be tested for Zika in the first and second trimester. Pregnant women in the identified area can contact their medical provider or their local county health department to be tested and receive a Zika prevention kit. CDC recommends that a pregnant woman with a history of Zika virus and her provider should consider additional ultrasounds. Additionally, the department is working closely with the Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade County to identify pregnant women in the impacted areas to ensure they have access to resources and information to protect themselves. CDC recommends that a pregnant woman with a history of Zika virus and her provider should consider additional ultrasounds.
Pregnant women can contact their local county health department for Zika risk assessment and testing hours and information. A Zika risk assessment will be conducted by county health department staff and blood and/or urine samples may be collected and sent to labs for testing. It may take one to two weeks to receive results.
Florida has been monitoring pregnant women with evidence of Zika regardless of symptoms. The total number of pregnant women who have been or are being monitored is 80.
On Feb. 12, Governor Scott directed the State Surgeon General to activate a Zika Virus Information Hotline for current Florida residents and visitors, as well as anyone planning on traveling to Florida in the near future. The hotline, managed by the Department of Health, has assisted 5,613 callers since it launched. The number for the Zika Virus Information Hotline is 1-855-622-6735.
The department urges Floridians to drain standing water weekly, no matter how seemingly small. A couple drops of water in a bottle cap can be a breeding location for mosquitoes. Residents and visitors also need to use repellents when enjoying the Florida outdoors.
For more information on DOH action and federal guidance, please click here.
For resources and information on Zika virus, click here.
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While our skeeter killers dither and fail to use every safe and effective weapon that they have in their arsenal, ZIKA is knocking on our door.
On Wednesday it was reported that we now have at least 3 cases of ZIKA in Monroe. That’s only the cases that have been discovered and proven. Given that many infected persons have no symptoms, we could have scores of infected persons. It is safe to assume that the authorities ae keeping the number of cases under investigation a closely held secret.
You have to be aware that ZIKA infected mosquitoes are alive and well in several Dade venues. And let’s not forget that the mosquito that the anti GMM people are protecting is the same mosquito that spreads dengue, yellow fever, and chikungunya. These are dreadful diseases. Are you aware that Yellow fever is resurgent in the tropics?
I trust you will remember that dengue is no stranger to our community. It was not that many years ago that there were nearly a hundred cases of dengue in the lower Keys. And yes, there were cases in Key Haven and Stock Island. The news of that outbreak made national headlines and turned off the tourism money spigot.
To date, there have been 49 locally transmitted cases of the virus in Florida, that’s according to the state Department of Health. Forty-two of those have been in Miami-Dade County. Florida is the only state in the continental United States where local transmission has occurred. Don’t kid yourself, if it’s not already here, unless we do something damned quick, ZIKA will soon be here.
The anti GMM crowd is getting down right frantic in their efforts to stop the skeeter killers from killing ZIKA skeeters. They even paid for ads in FaceBook . The ads verged on hysteria, shrilly warning the residents of Key Haven that the British are coming…the British are coming! I think that they see themselves as latter day Paul Revere’s.
The Oxitec people, the Brits, are the people who are ready willing and able to kill ZIKA mosquitoes. They went to Key Haven to talk to the residents, answer questions, and give out fact sheets. The Oxitec people posed no threat except to the false narrative being spun and sold by the anti GMM people and the real estate interests. The anti GMM crowd followed the Oxitec people shouting at them and urging homeowners not to talk to the Brits. Many Key Haven residents are in favor of the immediate use of GMM, but are reluctant to voice their support. They are unwilling to subject themselves to the ire of the zealots that oppose it.
Yep, the anti GMM zealots are so frightened to have anyone hear the other side of the story that they hectored Key Haven residents to stay away from the Brits.
The Anti GMM people, the real estate big shots, are so petrified that their property values will be harmed that they seem willing to do almost anything to stop efforts to kill the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Many of them also oppose the use of sprays. It looks like they are betting with the public health, and the lives of the unborn. They are betting that ZIKA will just go away.
Recently a letter has been put forward by the anti GMM people. This letter is the work of a local doctor who is married to a candidate for The Mosquito Control Board. This letter alleges that the GMM process needs additional study prior to its implementation. The Doc is complaining that because tetracycline is used in the process, that use might….underline might…degrade the efficacy of antibiotics. The good Doc offers no data or proof; he offers only speculation. The FDA, the EPA, and the USDA disagree with the Doc. The scientist and physicians at the FDA, the EPA, and the USDA have made a thorough, multidiscipline study of the process. They have deemed the process to be safe.
You may want to consider that an estimated 29 million pounds of antibiotics are used on our food stock animals Kinda makes you wonder just how much damage a mosquito with tetracycline on its feet can do.
You should be aware that the author of the aforementioned letter, is Dr. John Norris. Dr. Norris is married to skeeter board candidate, Kathryn Watkins. For whatever reason she chooses not to use her married name in the campaign, but she has no such qualms about using her married name, Kathryn Watkins Norris, in her FaceBook postings that rail against killing the mosquitoes that spread ZIKA by the use of genetic engineering.
Kathryn Watkins (Norris) has received only a few contributions in support of her campaign. Two of which are big..really big…campaign contributions. One from her husband, Doc Norris. One from big real estate. That heavy hitter donor was Southernmost Realty. The donation was for $1,000.00. Just for the record, the heavy hitter real estate investor that threatened the skeeter board members with retribution if GMM was used, is not Southernmost Realty, it was Ed Swift lll. He’s supporting other candidates; Janet Woods and Steve Smith.
Words have meanings. The anti GMM group insist on labeling the initial release of GMM mosquitoes as being an “experiment.” It is not, it is a proof of concept excercize necessary to win full government approval for the use of the process. The safety and efficacy, and safety, of the process has already been demonstrated in its use in Brazil and other venues. As this is written, a new release of GMM mosquitoes is underway in Piracicaba, Brazil. The Brazilian government is damned glad that Oxitec is there to help protect their public health. Our leaders must quit dithering and use every weapon in their arsenal to protect the public health, and the unborn.