The Florida Department of Health (DOH) reported today an additional non-travel associated Zika virus case in a resident of Duval County.
Health officials say the individual had multiple exposures in Miami-Dade County and do not believe transmission is occurring in Duval County.
This brings the number of locally acquired Zika cases to 186.
On Tuesday, Florida Governor Rick Scott called on President Obama to expedite the allocation of federal funding to Florida to combat the Zika virus. It has been more than a month since Congress passed and the president signed a Zika funding bill yet Florida, the first and only state to have active and ongoing transmission of Zika, has not received any new dollars.
The Governor is urging President Obama to immediately allocate the maximum amount of federal funding available to the state and provide a complete breakdown of allocations for the entire $1.1 billion in Zika funding passed in September by Congress.
“We are requesting every dollar available and expect the federal government to give Florida every dollar of funding possible, Scott said.
“We are also requesting a complete breakdown of allocations for the $1.1 billion in federal Zika funding passed by Congress and signed by the president in September. Florida is the epicenter of this public health crisis and our residents deserve to know how much federal funding is being provided to keep our families safe.
“While visiting Miami last week, Dr. Tom Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the Zika virus will ‘become endemic’. He also stressed the importance of investing in public health, saying, ‘it pays off’. That is why Dr. Frieden should absolutely agree that we need the immediate allocation of all available federal funding to Florida.”
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