As Miami Beach prepares for another round of aerial spraying for the Zika virus scheduled this weekend, some residents and politicians are doing what they can to try and stop those plans.
Protests continued outside of the City Hall on Wednesday, with residents still unhappy with the use of the Naled over the transmission zone, located between 8th Street and 28th Street. Two rounds of the spraying took place last week, with another one scheduled for Sunday.
Inside the chambers, city commissioners took up the subject of Zika spraying. Talk of a possible injunction being filed to stop the spraying was quickly silenced, as was a motion by Commissioner Michael Grieco to file suit against the county over the spraying. None of the other five commissioners would second that motion.
While debate continues in South Florida, Governor Rick Scott is in Washington D.C. in an effort to try and get more funding for the fight against Zika. Scott met with several members of Florida’s Congressional delegation – including South Florida representatives Mario Diaz-Balart , Ileana Ros-Lehtinen , Carlos Curbelo and Frederica Wilson.
.@MarioDB @RepCurbelo @RepWilson @RepGusBilirakis + I met w @FLGovScott abt funding 4 anti #Zika efforts in #SoFla pic.twitter.com/lCWB3B2NCu — Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (@RosLehtinen) September 14, 2016
“We continue to learn important lessons about Zika and the efficacy of our own emergency response efforts, but our community deserves even more transparency and cooperation between federal, state and local agencies during the difficult road ahead as we work to eliminate the virus and its invasive mosquito host,” said Ros-Lehtinen.
Wilson added “It is gratifying to know that we are on the same page about the urgent nature of the Zika outbreak in our state and its impact on both public health and Florida’s economy.”
