Memorial Day weekend is often referred to as the unofficial start to summer. This year in the bluegrass, it might also carry the title of the beginning of mosquito season.
Luke Mathias with the Fayette County Health Department says a very wet month of May had his crews start control efforts about a week and a half earlier than usual.
“That combined with the heat, it’s actually also been pretty warm out for the last several weeks and humid and that really lends itself to mosquitos and high mosquito activity. This is the conditions that they thrive on,” said Mathias.
Mathias says inspectors are already surveying historically mosquito affected areas in Lexington.
Mathias says baiting with larvicide in stagnant water can prevent mosquito breeding for 160 days. The health department environmentalist says the mosquito transmitted Zika (ZEE-ka) disease hasn’t become a major health threat as once anticipated. “It’s not that we’re not concerned about Zika, but it seems like the risk is going down with Zika. We just haven’t seen the disease migrate to our area of the country,” explained Mathias.
Mathias says health officials will continue to monitor Zika prevalence in the area throughout the season. He says spraying is expected to begin in a few weeks in Fayette County.?
