Florida in damage-control mode over Zika

TAMPA, Florida — Thank goodness it’s the slow season in Florida.

At least that’s what officials of the state’s multibillion-dollar tourism industry are thinking after the news that 16 people have been infected with Zika in a small, trendy neighbourhood in Miami.

The outbreak has sent another chill through Sunshine State, just weeks after the Orlando nightclub massacre and the killing of a twoyear-old boy by an alligator at nearby Walt Disney World.

Florida officials have gone into damage-control mode, with Gov. Rick Scott insisting: “We have a safe state!” during a tour of the Zika hot zone in Miami’s Wynwood district. It’s the site of the first mosquito-transmitted cases of Zika on record in the continental U.S.

Tourism is Florida’s biggest industry. Visitors spent $89 billion US here last year. And Disney is the No. 1 attraction.

Outside of a few business owners in the affected neighbourhood, however, Zika appears to have done little damage to tourism so far.

Demetra Prattas, vice-president of Turon Travel, a New York-based company, said: “I don’t think it’s a factor in deciding where to go. We’ve had no cancellations.”

The governor said tourists should use caution and not worry. Scott said the state is doing everything it can to test people, spray against mosquitoes and get rid of the standing water in which they breed.

U.S. health officials have warned pregnant women to avoid Wynwood because the virus can cause severe birth defects.