MIAMI – While the stalemate in Congress over funding to ramp up efforts continued, Zika was spreading in Florida. Miami-Dade, which has a mosquito control program, was the county with the most cases in the state on Friday.
So far all of the cases reported in Florida are travel-related, according to health authorities. But doctors are on the alert for a Zika patient who did not travel to a country with Zika cases and who did not have sex with someone who did.
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President Barack Obama said Friday lawmakers are "playing politics" with public health and needs to act quickly to pass a bill that could result in a Zika vaccine.
Obama requested $1.9 billion in February. The House passed a $1.1 billion deal on Tuesday. The Senate needs to pass the bill before the mid-July to September recess, Obama said.
"Congress should not leave, should not adjourn, until they have this done," Obama said.
Gov. Rick Scott declared a public health emergency in Florida. In the latest report from the state's department of health there were 246 cases -- including 43 pregnant women. From a day to another, authorities added 10 cases to the list.
There are 69 cases in Miami-Dade.
A mother in Florida, who was infected with Zika in Haiti, gave birth in June to a baby with an unusually small head due to microcephaly, a rare neurological condition associated with the disease.
The Centers for Disease Control also announced it plans to split $25 million among 53 territories.
