MIAMI – The Florida Department of Health is investigating four areas in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties where local transmissions of the Zika virus may have occurred, Gov. Rick Scott said Monday.
Scott said three of those areas are in Miami-Dade County, and the other area is in Palm Beach County.
The governor also confirmed two new locally acquired cases of the Zika virus, bringing the total number of non-travel related cases in Florida to 30.
"While we have learned there are two new individuals that contracted the Zika virus through mosquito bites in our state, we still believe local transmissions are only occurring in an area that is less than 1 square mile in Wynwood," Scott said.
The so-called "Zika zone" is between Northwest Fifth Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard to Northwest 38th and Northwest 20th streets.
"My message to the CDC or the Florida Department of Health is to remove this box and address the broader health issue that exists in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties," Wynwood BID Chair Joseph Furst said. "It is absolutely imperative that this box gets removed if there are new cases outside of the box."
In a meeting Monday at the Miami-Dade Department of Health, doctors and mosquito control officials addressed the latest number of cases the best they could without violating privacy rules.
Dr. Lillian Rivera from the DOH said when a person tests positive for the virus, doctors do everything they can to prevent them from spreading it.
"We are not asking them to stay indoors, but they have to use repellant, and if they are in a place where mosquitoes are at they have to leave that area," she said.
Scott said state health officials have closed their investigations into the first cases in Miami-Dade and Broward counties that were announced July 29. He said health officials tested 124 people from those communities and found no additional positive cases in those areas.
Free testing for the Zika virus is being offered to pregnant woman in the state of Florida. Everyone else has to use their insurance or pay out of pocket for the test.
Health officials said 80 percent of people who contract the virus do not show any symptoms.
The governor said none of the more than 25,000 mosquitoes tested for the Zika virus have been positive.
