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Gov. Scott Works To Calm Fears About Spread Of Zika

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
Gov. Rick Scott hosted a roundtable in Pinellas Park to discuss Zika.
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The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

With 10 new local cases of Zika likely transmitted in the Miami area, local and state officials are doing what they can to keep the state's tourism-friendly reputation intact.

Governor Rick Scott is traveling the state talking about Zika, and he was in Pinellas Park on Monday.

A travel advisory issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the area in Miami where the locally-transmitted cases are from follows a similar one issued for pregnant women by Public Health officials in England.

Gov. Scott says the state has experience dealing with mosquito borne illnesses and is using all of its resources to stop the spread of Zika.

“We’ve had 60 plus million tourists probably already this year,” Scott said. “Tourists are going to continue coming to our state because it’s such a wonderful place to come but were going to be very aggressive taking care of everybody in our state and our visitors.”

He added that those worried about coming to the state should keep the recent spread of Zika in perspective. Florida is a large state with more than 20 million residents. The area of concern is 1 square-mile in Miami. So far only 14 people have been infected, he said. 

Julio Ochoa is editor of Health News Florida.