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New Cluster of Zika Cases Is Reported in Miami Beach New Cluster of Zika Cases Is Reported in Miami Beach
(about 4 hours later)
A cluster of Zika cases most likely transmitted by local mosquitoes has been identified in Miami Beach, a health official said Thursday. Health authorities are trying to decide whether to designate a section of the bustling tourist city as a zone of active Zika transmission, and whether to advise pregnant women to avoid the area. MIAMI — A cluster of Zika cases most likely transmitted by local mosquitoes has been identified in Miami Beach, and federal and state officials are considering whether to advise pregnant women to avoid traveling to the city and possibly even all of Miami-Dade County, a health official said Thursday.
The health official said Thursday that there are “a handful of cases” of likely local transmission that involve people who were in “close proximity to each other.” The official insisted on anonymity, saying that the cases and the location are not likely to be officially announced until late Thursday or early Friday. Such a decision would signal that the potential threat of local Zika transmission had entered a new stage. It would no longer be confined to one zone of active local transmission in Miami — the only one identified in the continental United States up to now. A broad travel advisory could threaten tourism in South Florida and deepen fears among pregnant women living in the area.
Neither the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the Florida Department of Health had released official information on the cases or the location in Miami Beach. While the Zika virus has mild or negligible effects in most people, it can be devastating in pregnancy because it can damage the brain of a developing fetus, leading to babies born with unusually small heads, a condition called microcephaly. The Zika epidemic has swept across Latin America and the Caribbean since last year. In Brazil, which has been hardest hit by the virus, more than 1,800 babies have been born with microcephaly.
To date, only one neighborhood in Miami, a one-square mile section of Wynwood, has been declared an active Zika transmission zone in the United States, and the C.D.C. has advised pregnant women to stay out of the area. As of Wednesday, Florida authorities had tied 25 of the 35 locally-transmitted Zika cases to a single area in that Wynwood zone. Until three weeks ago, all documented cases of Zika infection in the continental United States had been linked to people who had traveled to the outbreak region, or people who had sexual relations or close contact with someone who had traveled there. While officials have long expected cases of local transmission in the United States, especially in warm climates like Florida’s where mosquitoes flourish, it was impossible for them to predict exactly where those cases would crop up. On July 29, health officials announced that the first cases of local Zika transmission in the continental United States had affected four people in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.
On Thursday, the health official with knowledge of the new developments said that in Miami Beach, there are “a handful of cases” of likely local transmission that involve people who were in “close proximity to each other,” including two new cases that the Florida Department of Health announced Thursday. The official insisted on anonymity, saying that details about the location and any travel guidance for pregnant women are not likely to be officially announced until Friday at the earliest.
The official said that expanding the travel advisory broadly would not indicate that health officials think that the Zika virus is spreading rapidly throughout the county or throughout Miami Beach. Rather, it would be “for the sake of almost simplification to make it easy for people to understand the geographic area,” the official said.
“Now that we have a second area of local transmission, I think officials wouldn’t be surprised to see in the coming weeks another area,” the official added. “So in an effort to simplify things and get ahead, there are discussions about expanding the area to possibly include the county or other parts of the Miami area.”
Florida officials said Thursday that they had not identified a new site of local transmission besides the one-square-mile area in Wynwood, a neighborhood in Miami, that has been designated a zone of active local transmission of the Zika virus since Aug. 1. So far, 25 of the 35 cases of suspected local transmission that Florida health officials have announced have ties to the Wynwood neighborhood, most of them linked to two small businesses.
Jackie Schutz, Gov. Rick Scott’s communications director, said Thursday that public health officials were still investigating new cases and that no new transmission zones had been established. She said that when a new hot zone was identified, the state would make an announcement.
“They have not confirmed a new zone of active transmission,” Ms. Schutz said. “There is still that one Wynwood area.” She added, “There are multiple cases being investigated.”
Mara Gambineri, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Health, said that the department “still believes active transmissions are still only occurring in the area that is less than one square mile in Miami-Dade County.”
“If investigations reveal additional areas of likely active transmission,” she added, “the department will announce a defined area of concern.”
The health official interviewed Thursday said Florida officials might be waiting to announce the new cluster until a decision was made about how large an area would be included in any new travel advisory. Officials from the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were discussing Thursday night where to draw the boundaries and what new guidance to issue.
“At a minimum is expanding the travel advisory to Miami Beach,” the health official said. “What’s on the table right now is Miami Beach and making it bigger than Miami Beach. There are discussion about the whole of Miami-Dade County. Those decisions are on the table.”
The C.D.C. had not issued a statement as of Thursday night, and agency officials said it would do so only after the State of Florida released more details about a new cluster and location.
A city of 92,000 people, Miami Beach sits on a series of barrier islands east of Miami. Its crystalline waters, night clubs, restaurants and hip hotels make it one of the biggest tourist hot spots in the state.
The prospect of mosquitoes spreading Zika in Miami Beach would catapult concerns over the virus to a new level. About seven million tourists stayed in Miami Beach hotels in 2015, a number that does not include those who visit without staying there, according to the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. About half are international tourists, with Brazil leading the way. Brazil has the highest number of Zika cases in the world.