I am pummeled, both in my personal email and my work email with attorneys and safety organizations (I run the worker's comp desk) and healthcare organizations and the like... all giving me the CDC guidelines.
Why? I'm within 250 miles of Dade and Broward counties the area of first incursion for Zika.
This map is close to accurate in demonstrating the areas where the Aedes aegypti mosquito is known in the U.S.
You will probably not have to worry above the far southeast and outside of Arizona in the west.
We are likely to see some action on Florida's west coast. I'm risk adverse in my job, so my early emails asking us to think about purchasing mosquito repellant for our employees outdoors (home health and home hospice... 80% of our employee population)to get them to start taking precautions BEFORE the virus spreads west...they've pretty much fallen on deaf ears. I have three pregnant moms on my leave of absence slate this summer. I'm worried for them, too.
I haven't seen the pesky Aedes aegypti...but I've been in Florida a long time. I'm not like the transplants from the last five years who still get a kick out of spending their summers outdoors. I limit my time out, spend a lot of time in, in the cool, and use the months of November-March for my outdoor activities. I stay away from the lakes and standing water and don't hang out near the sluice behind my house. I have no mosquito bites at all this year. Let's hope it stays that way.But if you do want to lay some odds, I have the week of August 30th in the office pool for when Zika arrives in Hillsborough county. Just send me your bets and I'll make the pool bigger. Prize is a mobile mosquito netting poncho ...very fetching.
quid
3 comments:
I thought about you when I heard about the little vampires in Dade County. I found it fascinating that the Zike skeeters are territorial and tend to remain within a one square mile area. That's good to know! I remember as a kid, the mosquito-spraying truck coming through the neighborhood and us kids riding our bikes in the fog of poison. LOL! It's a wonder any of us are still alive!!
Good luck with avoiding them. Here in Louisiana we get chewed up every time we walk outside. Maybe here in Swamplandia we've developed resistance to them. xo
Your map is a little different than the one they've shown on ABC. Still...it brushes right across me. I'm afraid I haven't been as concerned about this as some, but it's not like I'm of childbearing age anymore! My younger daughter is, though, and she's smack dab in the zone (near Marion'a swampland!!) Honestly, I've dealt with far more tick bites than mosquitoes this year. At least (knock on wood) I've avoided most of the fleas.
So good to see you posting again!!!
Yes, so good to hear from you! And really interesting to hear from someone on the front lines of Zika.
My wife bought some of the high-powered insect repellent for our daughter and daughter-in-law, both of child-bearing age and both right in the zone your map covers (Huntsville, AL and Atlanta).
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