Florida governor lifts part of Zika virus zone

MIAMI — Florida Gov. Rick Scott lifted part of Miami Beach’s zone of active Zika transmission Tuesday but cautioned that “this isn’t over.”

In a Tuesday afternoon news conference at a local deli, Scott said 45 days have passed without a local transmission of the virus in the zone covering the middle of Miami Beach. Like he did when the Zika zone over the Wynwood neighborhood was lifted, Scott encouraged tourists to return to the area and patronize the businesses.

The area from 28th Street to 63rd Street, encompassing all of Middle Beach from Biscayne Bay to the Atlantic Ocean, was designated a zone in mid-September. Along with an additional transmission zone covering South Beach — from 28th Street to Eighth Street — two-thirds of the city has been deemed an area pregnant women should avoid because mosquitoes are actively spreading the Zika virus.

The two active Zika zones left in Miami-Dade County are a one-half-square-mile area in South Beach and a one-squaremile area in Little River.

“We can’t take this for granted,” Scott said. “We have to understand that we’re going to have to continue to fight this until we get a vaccine.”

Scott praised the local and state reaction to Zika and said the most important effect of the campaign is how much Floridians have learned about preventing the virus. Fighting Zika has been a learning process, he said, but it won’t be a victory until there’s a vaccine. He stressed the importance of preventing Zika to protect pregnant women and their unborn children.

The other good news, Scott said, is with his “good friends” Donald Trump, Mike Pence and Reince Priebus are in power, he has someone to call if there’s a problem with Zika funding.

Bill Talbert, CEO of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, said he couldn’t “think of a better Thanksgiving present for the community,” and for Art Basel, which is set to take place in the heart of the South Beach Zika zone next week.

“This will lift us,” he said. “There is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

GASTON DE CARDENAS/MIAMI HERALD Fran Middlebrooks, a grounds keeper at Pinecrest Gardens, former home of the historic Parrot Jungle, uses a blower to spray pesticide to kill mosquitoes as Miami Dade county fights to control the Zika virus outbreak on Aug. 4 in Miami, Fla.