The Florida Department of Health announced the first locally transmitted case of Zika outside Miami-Dade County Tuesday — and it's in Pinellas County.
Details are as yet scant about how the disease was contracted — through a mosquito bite of sexual intercourse — but the case brings the number of locally transmitted cases of Zika to 37 in Florida.
Governor Rick Scott was in Clearwater Tuesday to talk about concerns over the virus. The state has already given Pinellas County about $106,000 to prevent and combat the virus in ways that include spraying for mosquitos. The health department is also offering free tests to pregnant women, given the birth defects associated with Zika.
"In Pinellas County, the Department of Health and Pinellas County Mosquito Control are already working together and have begun aggressive spraying and mosquito abatement efforts," Scott said in a prepared statement, acording to News Service of Florida. "Any pregnant woman who would like to receive a free Zika test or a Zika prevention kit should contact the Florida Department of Health in Pinellas County."
Meanwhile, at the federal level, Zika funding remains political.
Congress has yet to fund research on the virus's effects.
Former Governor Charlie Crist, who is running for Congress, called on House Speaker Paul Ryan to call Congress back to D.C.
"For this virus endangering Floridians to now spread unabated to Pinellas County is inexcusable," he said in a written statement his campaign issued Tuesday. "Lives are in danger, particularly expectant mothers, children, and women planning to have children. We need clear solutions to this serious problem. First, Speaker Ryan must bring Congress back to Washington to do their job and pass a clean funding bill."
His opponent, incumbent U.S. Rep. David Jolly, R-Indian Shores, also called on his colleagues to pass a bill that would set up funding to tackle the virus.
“Florida is at risk and Washington is tone deaf,” Jolly said. “Today’s news of a locally transmitted case of Zika in Pinellas County is another alarm that should prompt leadership to call members back to DC to address this public health issue. As a representative of a frontline state dealing with the Zika outbreak, I fully understand the serious public health risk this virus presents. But we must address this issue now, responsibly and without playing politics. This is a public health issue, not a political issue."
Jolly met with Ryan in June in an effort to convey the immediate need to fight Zika in Florida, but nothing came about as a result of the conversation.
While Congress has yet to act on Zika, his press release notes, the feds have managed to repurpose $100 million a month that had been slated to combat Ebola.
Congresswoman Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, echoed the call to fund a more aggressive approach to Zika, including developing vaccines, more testing and a database of pregnant women who have contracted the virus — as they should have done months ago.
“President Obama called on Congress six months ago to pass an emergency response package," she said in a statement. "Instead, House Republicans blocked meaningful action and then adjourned for the summer. My neighbors in Pinellas County and all Floridians need every tool to keep them safe as the Zika virus spreads. I urge House Republicans and Speaker Paul Ryan to reconvene the Congress immediately to pass an emergency Zika response package that can expedite necessary vaccines, diagnostic tests and development of the registry to track pregnant women who contract the Zika virus.”
As other Democrats recently have, Crist also called on the Florida legislature to accept billions in federal Medicaid money under the Affordable Care Act so that those at risk have adequate access to prevention and care.
"Then, Florida must expand Medicaid to cover the 200,000 women in the coverage gap without access to affordable healthcare and who are at risk," he said.
This article appears in Aug 18-25, 2016.