Florida Tracking 4 New ‘Homegrown’ Zika Cases

Florida health officials are investigating four new suspected non-travel related Zika cases.

“All four were exposed in the identified area of concern in Miami-Dade County,” state officials said in a statement Tuesday, citing the Wynwood area of Miami as ground zero in the state’s Zika.

“The department still believes active transmissions are only taking place within the identified area that is less than one-square mile in Miami-Dade County.”

The new cases bring the total number of “homegrown” Zika infections in Florida to 21. There have also been 369 travel-related Zika infections in Florida and 57 involving pregnant women, according to the new report.

In addition, the Florida Health Department said it has conducted testing for the Zika virus for more than 2,567 people statewide. All county health departments are now offering free Zika risk assessment and testing to any pregnant woman who would like to be tested.

“There are 14 new travel-related cases today with four in Miami-Dade County, three in Orange County, two in Hernando County, one in Broward County, one in Lee County, one in Monroe County and two involving pregnant women,” the report said.

Gov. Rick Scott called on Congress to act to free up more resources to combat the Zika virus.

“While Florida has been preparing for Zika since February, we know many other states don’t have the same resources we have,” Scott said. “The Obama Administration has still not fulfilled our requests for an additional 10,000 Zika prevention kits for pregnant women or a detailed plan on how they would like Florida to work with FEMA on requesting emergency response funds since this has become mosquito-borne in our state.

“The federal government must stop playing politics and Congress needs to immediately come back to session to resolve this.”