Earlier this month it was announced that a Pinellas County resident was the first Floridian who contracted the Zika virus locally outside southeast Florida; Tuesday morning, during an unrelated press conference, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn acknowledged the Zika patient is a Tampa firefighter.
“I have known for a while. I don’t intend to violate HIPAA regulations. I was aware of the situation; was aware of the circumstances; was aware of the precautions that were taken. We do not feel that any firefighter or anybody else is at risk. But, again I’m not gonna get into the details of it. I don’t think it would be either appropriate for me and certainly not appropriate for the person that’s involved. But, we’re confident that every precaution that needed to be taken has been taken and that particular firefighter will be back on the job and doing the great job that he or she has always done.”
