MIAMI _ Aerial spraying of insecticide over the Wynwood neighborhood killed large numbers of the mosquitoes capable of spreading Zika virus, Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Thursday as he lifted the state's public health alert for a portion of the one-square-mile zone in Miami identified as the nation's first area with active transmission of the disease.
State officials concluded that no mosquitoes are spreading the disease in a 10-block area in the northwest corner of the designated zone, though the public health alert advising pregnant women to avoid the rest of the Wynwood area remains in effect as epidemiologists from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention monitor the area for Zika virus.
"We're very comfortable that we're not seeing any active cases there," Scott said of the 10-block area cleared of Zika transmission.
CDC Director Tom Frieden, who spent Thursday touring the Wynwood area with Scott, State Surgeon General Celeste Philip and elected officials, said he was "very encouraged" by the initial results of aerial spraying.
"But," he said, "this is going to take an intensive effort. It's a complex area."
Neither Frieden nor Scott provided a number or ratio of mosquitoes killed by aerial spraying of the insecticide Naled over Wynwood early Thursday. But Chalmers Vasquez, Miami-Dade's mosquito control manager, said all of the insects found inside the 16 traps placed throughout the designated zone were found dead.
"Traps were 100 percent kill," he said. It was unclear, however, whether the large numbers of mosquitoes were killed by the aerial spraying alone or a new chemical that county workers are using for hand spraying on the ground, a class of insecticide known as pyrethrins.
Frieden said he would not be surprised if new Zika cases are reported inside of what he described as a 500-square-foot area at the center of the designated zone. "That's the way Zika works," he said, explaining that the one-square-mile zone included a precautionary buffer.
But at least one new local Zika case is under investigation outside that area, and Philip confirmed the health department has been interviewing people and collecting blood and urine samples from residents in Southwest Miami-Dade.
Scott vowed that Florida would continue to combat the spread of Zika virus with aggressive spraying and testing for new cases, even if Congress fails to approve emergency funding first requested by President Barack Obama in February. Congress recessed in July without resolving the request.
"We'll continue to fund to do the right thing in the state," said Scott, who allocated $26.2 million in Florida funds for Zika preparedness efforts in June. "Our hope is that the federal government will do the same thing. ... If they don't, the state is going to do funding. We have significant resources."
Florida also has received more than $8 million in Zika-specific funding from the CDC, and Frieden noted Thursday that the federal health agency has also provided about $27 million in emergency preparedness funding that can be used for Zika response.
The federal dollars are used to fund the health department's efforts in each county, including epidemiologists, planners and laboratories and equipment, said Philip, the state surgeon general. The state dollars are distributed by the Florida Department of Health to counties and cities according to their needs as identified over the past several months, she said.
Miami-Dade, which reported two new travel-related Zika cases Thursday, has confirmed 105 people who have contracted the disease this year _ most in the state. And Wednesday, the county set a new record for mosquito complaints received from residents with 1,300 phone calls, said Vasquez, the mosquito control manager.
Yet Miami-Dade has received just $300,000 from the state to combat Zika, and those dollars arrived within the last month, said Alina Hudak, a deputy mayor for Miami-Dade.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, who Thursday called for a special meeting to coordinate state and local response to Zika, said she was disappointed that the county has received so little.
"We're ground zero for Zika," Cava said. "$300,000 is wholly inadequate."
