New Zika Zone is Almost All of South Beach

August 19, 2016

Photo by Phillip Pessar.

Five new locally transmitted cases of Zika, two locals and three tourists, have appeared in South Beach within the box of 8th and 28th Streets, spanning the Atlantic Ocean to Biscayne Bay, reports the Miami Herald. This isn’t good. Governor Scott announced this as Miami’s second Zika Zone of active transmission. As the Herald says:

 Aerial spraying cannot be conducted amid the high rises and ocean breezes of Miami Beach because the airplanes fly low, about 100 feet above the ground, Frieden said. But crowds of tourists on Miami Beach, and the abundance of people in bathing suits and exposed skin, means more people may be infected.

Although there is controversy over the spraying (as it kills mosquito predators too) this is not good. Check out the Herald’s map of the affected area here.