South Beach Zika Zone Lifted

MIAMI BEACH, FL — Calling the area "one of the prettiest places in the state to be," Gov. Rick Scott announced on Friday that the final remaining Zika zone in the state has been lifted — an area of about 1.5 square miles between Eighth and 28th streets in South Beach.

"The South Beach area now does not have any local transmission of Zika and that's a very good day for our state," the governor said, speaking just off the beach at The Betsy Hotel. "What that means is our state has no local transmissions of Zika."

Secretary of Florida Department of Health Dr. Celeste Philip, who accompanied the governor, added that the battle over Zika is not over.

"We will continue to see travelers bringing Zika infections into our state and so we must remain on alert and continue all the protective efforts that we’ve doing that have led to this success," said Philip, who also serves as Florida's surgeon general. "That means continuing to use repellent, keeping your skin covered as much as possible .... And we cannot forget about the risk associated with sexual transmission."

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez said he traveled to Atlanta earlier this week to meet with the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to discuss and plan for next year’s Zika-related activities.

"We are the first community in the world to break the cycle of local transmission — and should be proud of what we have accomplished together," Gimenez said in a prepared statement. "Because of our success, Miami-Dade’s mosquito control team is regarded as a model for the rest of the world, and we will continue to explore new and emerging technologies and options to keep our community safe from the Zika virus."

On Dec. 2, the governor announced that the Little River zone in Miami had been cleared. That area included a one-square-mile stretch between NW 79th Street to the north, NW 63rd Street to the south, NW 10th Avenue to the west and N. Miami Avenue to the east.

With Friday's announcement during the heaviest tourist season in the Miami area. the entire state of Florida is now considered free of Zika transmissions.

Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, who traveled with Gimenez to the CDC, said "we reaffirmed our commitment to working with all government agencies and to take any and all reasonable and safe measures throughout the winter to minimize mosquito populations."

The Little River zone area was about one square mile between NW 79th St. to the North, NW 63rd St. to the South, NW 10th Ave. to the West and N. Miami Ave. to the East.

In November, Scott gave the all clear to the Miami Beach area north of 28th Street to 63rd Street. Before that, he announced that the Wynwood area of Miami had also seen no new transmissions of Zika. This included the area of Northwest 5th Avenue to the west, U.S. 1 to the East, 38th Street to the north, and 20th Street to the south.

Scott has urged residents to remain "vigilant" and continue to use bug spray and dump standing water.

Despite Zika concerns, Florida set a tourism record this year with an estimated 85 million people visiting in the first nine months of the year.

"We’re going to continue to welcome all of the tourists to come down here, all of the people that want to come enjoy our beaches, our weather, our restaurants, our amusements," Scott said. "We’re going to make sure that everybody knows that this state is open for business, and as we do that, we’re going to get more jobs."

Photo by City of Miami Beach.