The Zika virus is no longer actively spreading in the northern part of Miami Beach, but healthcare officials continue to urge caution.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday said no new cases have been found in North Miami Beach for more than 45 days, suggesting that the risk is no longer greater than in the rest of Miami-Dade County.
However, the agency still considers the southern part of Miami Beach to be a site of active transmission.
“We still advise pregnant women not to travel to the red zone in South Miami Beach,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said Tuesday. “Further, people living in or visiting Miami-Dade County, including Miami Beach, particularly pregnant women, are still encouraged to continue to take steps to prevent mosquito bites and to follow guidelines for preventing sexual transmission.”
Florida has been the only state where there has been active transmission via mosquito bites, the primary mode of local transmission of Zika.
Florida health officials have found 236 locally acquired Zika cases in the state.
The cases have primarily been in Miami-Dade County, and parts of Miami have had local transmission but were since downgraded.
Frieden has said that a major weapon against the spread of mosquitoes has been aerial spraying. He has previously pointed to aerial spraying of insecticide and larvicide that prevent mosquito breeding as a turning point in combating the spread of Zika in the Miami neighborhood of Wynwood.
