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 Scott was speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press" about the neighborhood
of Wynwood, where crews began aerial spraying on Thursday to kill
virus-carrying mosquitoes. Zika can cause microcephaly, a rare but
devastating birth defect.
The governor said state health authorities had identified 16 cases
of Zika that were spread by local mosquitoes and criticized the
federal government for failing to get more involved in battling the
virus.
Scott said he asked U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) Director Thomas Frieden earlier this week for 10,000
additional Zika preparedness kits.
"We still need the federal government to show up. The President and
Congress have to work together. This is a national, international
issue. It's not just a Florida issue," Scott said.
A representative for the CDC could not be immediately reached on
Sunday.
President Barack Obama, a Democrat, earlier this week called on
Congress to approve more funds to fight Zika's spread in the United
States, saying that money to fight the outbreak is rapidly running
out.
Scott's comments come a day after Republican Senator Marco Rubio of
Florida stirred controversy by telling political news outlet
Politico that pregnant women infected with Zika should not be able
to get an abortion, even when there was evidence the baby might be
born with severe microcephaly.
"I understand a lot of people disagree with my view – but I believe
that all human life is worthy of protection of our laws," Rubio, a
former candidate for his party's presidential nomination, told
Politico. "But if I'm going to err, I'm going to err on the side of
life."
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U.S. health regulators said on Friday that they had cleared the way
for a trial of genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida that can
reduce mosquito populations, potentially offering a new tool to
fight the local spread of Zika and other viruses.
U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in
pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by
small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in
babies. The World Health Organization has said there is strong
scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare
neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.
The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light
last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,600 cases
of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infections
in the mothers.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Frank
McGurty and Alan Crosby)
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