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Governor Rick Scott continues to push the Federal Government for ZIka Response funding despite the billions the state has in the bank. And as Mike Vasilinda tells us, two dozen counties, have made very specific requests.

Mosquito Larva were clearing visible inside these water filled abandoned tires. By the end of the weekend, they will have hatched and could be biting nearby residents. Mosquito control experts say rain from Tropical Storm Colin will complicate control efforts. Glen Pourciau is the Leon County Mosquito Control Director

“In particular, the Zika mosquitos are container breeders and day biters. So all the containers that have been empty of for the last few weeks will now start to fill up” Pourciau told us.

Leon is one of about two dozen counties mentioned in the Governor’s letter to the President seeking specific funding to fight Zika. The ask includes money for public outreach, Insecticide, spraying equipment and protective clothing. Scott mentioned the ask three times during his briefing on tropical Storm Colin.

“They should fulfill those needs right now” says Scott.

When asked why the state isn’t spending some of its billions in reserve to get ahead of the problem, Scott said it was.

“the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health, county health departments. And then locally, the mosquito boards are spending money.”

But a public records request for what the state has spent so far, which was made on Tuesday, has so far gone unanswered.

Experts say there is nothing complicated about fighting the type of mosquitos which carry Zika…Get rid of standing water.

Mosquitos can breed in as little as a teaspoon, or bottle cap of warer. that’s left standing for a week.

The mosquitos live and die within about two hundred yards of where they hatch.

Funding requests suggest it is about twice as expensive to remove a Zika threat after an  infection as it is to take preventive action beforehand.