While the federal government continued to dawdle over additional funding to fight the spread of the Zika virus, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn has taken matters into his own hands.
Or rather, the hands of the city’s code inspectors, who have been tasked with finding abandoned pools and standing water in order to take the fight to the mosquitoes, whether they carry the Zika virus or not.
On Aug. 22, Mayor Buckhorn held a press conference at an abandoned home in the Wellswood area of central Tampa. He announced that the city is going on the offensive with bricks, or “dunks,” that can be tossed into areas where there is standing water — prime breeding ground for mosquitoes — to kill the pesky insects’ larvae.
“In light of what has been going on around the state of Florida, we decided not to wait for politicians in Washington, D.C., to act,’’ Buckhorn said at his press conference. “We’re going to take action ourselves. We can be proactive in terms of negating the environment in which mosquitoes breed.”
Stopping The Spread Of Zika
The Zika virus is spread by certain mosquitoes who become infected when they bite a person already infected. It also can be transmitted sexually, from one infected person to another.
Though most people will not feel any effects of the virus other than fever, headaches and joint pain, it is especially hazardous to pregnant women. It can cause severe brain defects — or microcephaly — in unborn fetuses. The virus can cause babies to be born with unusually small heads and underdeveloped brains, and lead to growth problems.
Tampa initially purchased 3,600 of the dunks, which cost roughly $5,000. The dunks contain BTI, or Bacillis thuringiensis israelensis, which is a bacterium that kills mosquito larvae. It has a range of 100 sq. ft. and can last for 30 days.
But, a week after Buckhorn’s press conference, the city announced 5,000 more dunks had been purchased, in anticipation of the rainy weather that was coming.
Tampa was hit hard by Tropical Storm/ Hurricane Hermine, which produced massive rains, which, of course, usually leads to standing pools of water.
“Our residents’ safety is our number one priority,” Buckhorn said. “With heavy rain comes standing water and we’re working around the clock to prevent the Zika virus from coming to Tampa, If that means purchasing an additional 10,000 dunks, we will do just that.”
The dunks have been given to more than 80 city code inspectors and neighborhood workers to distribute to areas where they are needed. An emphasis is being placed on abandoned homes with pools and retention ponds.
Mosquito control is typically handled by Hillsborough County, rather than the city, but Buckhorn decided to take an aggressive approach to a problem that is growing, although it has mainly been confined to the Miami area. In particular, the Wynwood neighborhood north of downtown Miami has been hit hard.
Until recently, there hadn’t been any locally transmitted cases in Tampa Bay.
Hitting Close To Home
A day after Buckhorn held his press conference, however, Florida Governor Rick Scott announced the first locally transmitted case of Zika during a roundtable discussion about the disease in Clearwater.
According to reports, a Tampa Fire Rescue (TFR) firefighter who lives in Pinellas County has contracted the Zika virus.
“This person did not travel to an infected area with Zika; we are looking at a number of locations,” Gov. Scott said. “Hopefully, something good will happen and it will just be a single case. But (whatever) we do find out, what we will do is we will be very aggressive.”
The TFR firefighter works out of Station No. 3 on Kennedy Blvd. in south Tampa. Other firefighters at the station tested negative for the virus.
The state has emergency funds of $26 million to help fight the spread of and to treat Zika. However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) & Prevention said late last week it was almost out of money to fight Zika, even as three new state cases here were announced. Florida now has 46 cases of infection.
According to reports, the CDC already has spent $8 million fighting Zika in Florida. Congress, which has been in recess, returned to work this week and the $1.9-billion funding request from the White House to combat Zika is still awaiting action.
Zika originated in Brazil in 2015, but there are more than 2,200 cases of Zika to date in the U.S., and more than 8,000 reported cases in Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories.