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Rick Scott clashes with feds in trying to ease Miami Beach's Zika concerns

 
Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine speaks with Florida Gov. Rick Scott after a round table discussion about Zika preparedness in the Miami Beach neighborhood where the mosquito born Zika virus has been found. [Joe Raedle | Getty Images]
Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine speaks with Florida Gov. Rick Scott after a round table discussion about Zika preparedness in the Miami Beach neighborhood where the mosquito born Zika virus has been found. [Joe Raedle | Getty Images]
Published Aug. 27, 2016

MIAMI BEACH — Florida health officials reported no new local Zika infections and 15 more travel-related cases statewide on Friday as Gov. Rick Scott met with community leaders for the first time in Miami Beach since identifying a section of the resort city last week where mosquitoes are spreading the virus.

With Zika posing a threat to South Florida's tourism industry, Scott promised to commit state resources to help local businesses hurt by the public health crisis. But the governor offered little more than his word to follow up on suggestions from local elected officials for helping them.

"My goal today," Scott said, "is to make sure we share information. I think everybody involved wants to make sure we solve this issue as quickly as we can."

Scott, who has repeatedly asked for more federal help, plans to go to Washington on Sept. 6 to lobby for Zika funding.

"The federal government has not been a good partner," he said.

At the meeting with Scott — who also met with community leaders in Wynwood on Monday — were Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, and U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz Balart of Florida.

There's growing evidence that state and federal officials are not seeing eye-to-eye on the Zika threat and the best way to inform the public.

Scott repeated on Friday that the state Health Department has reduced by half the formerly one-square-mile area in Wynwood where mosquitoes are spreading Zika.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised pregnant women to avoid the area. That guidance hasn't changed — and it applies to the entire square mile area.

Ros-Lehtinen said the CDC's guidance is probably best.

"Mosquitoes do not respect boundaries," she said. "That mosquitoes respect boundaries and lines on a city map is a fallacy."

Regalado said the area of Wynwood identified July 29 as the first location in the nation with active transmission of Zika by mosquitoes has fallen into an economic tailspin.

"I'm very happy with the optimism here, and what I read about Miami Beach," Regalado said. "But I can tell you as a fact that business in Wynwood is down. It's down dramatically."

Levine, the Democratic Miami Beach mayor who has gubernatorial aspirations, proposed that the state dedicate money for an international campaign to promote Miami-Dade tourism.

Scott replied that the state's Department of Economic Opportunity was assessing the needs of businesses in Wynwood and Miami Beach, and that the state had about $75 million set aside for a program that provides loans to impacted businesses.

Levine's second request involved elections in Miami-Dade. "Is there any way you could look at extending the early voting in all these affected counties so people are not standing outside as long and exposed to these mosquitoes?"

Scott responded that voters can still use absentee ballots, and Florida has more early voting days than most states.

"Where we've seen lines in the past is where they have a whole bunch of ballot initiatives," Scott said. "I'd have to go back and look. But it's something I can look at."

Chamber of commerce president Jerry Libbin said the business group is buying $28,000 worth of insect repellent to distribute to businesses in the Zika zone.

"We'll be distributing it through our visitor center at the convention center," he said. "We're getting 10 pallets of bug spray about a week from Monday."