People in Florida are contracting West Nile virus because 2020 isn't done just yet

As if there wasn’t enough to worry about, people in Florida have been diagnosed with West Nile virus.

Officers in Miami-Dade county – where all the beaches are – said that 10 cases of West Nilee virus had been detected in the county.

Four cases had been detected earlier in May and June, but there’s very little indication about how it’s happened.

According to the Miami Herald, there have been 14 residents who have contracted Nile Virus so far this year.

West Nile virus is not a coronavirus.

It is a mosquito borne virus in the US, and cases do tend to rise throughout the summer and the fall. People generally cannot transmit the disease to one another, but it can be transmitted through blood and organ donations.

Health officials are reminding residents to ‘Drain and Cover’ which is a public health campaign encouraging people to remove items on their property which can accumulate water – these often develop into mosquito breeding grounds. That includes throwing away old appliances which may be gather water – such as drums and cans – as well as draining gutters, water bowls and so on.

Currently, there are no vaccines or medications to treat or prevent the West Nile virus, but fewer than 1 percent of people with the West Nile virus develop fatal symptoms of the illness.

About twenty percent of people infected with West Nile virus develop mild symptoms like fatigue, vomiting and fevers and headaches.

Florida is also one of the states in the USA with the highest rate of coronavirus cases, which spiked recently after restaurants and bars re-opened over the weekend.

As CNN explains, there could be multiple reasons – Florida is one of the few states in the US which does not have a state wide requirement that masks are worn, although they are recommended by the Florida state health department. As temperatures rose over the last couple of weeks, more people took to the beach or went out to see each other.