Nearly 18,000 City Of Warren Catch Basins Get First Mosquito Control Treatment
The first application of a mosquito control repellant has been applied to nearly 18,000 city catch basins with a second application scheduled for August.
Warren Mayor Jim Fouts has directed Department of Public Works employees to apply the briquette repellant to all city catch basins.
Homeowners who want a mosquito briquettes placed in a backyard catch basin or swimming pool should contact the City of Warren Department of Public Works at 586-759-9270.
“I’m determined to do everything I can to provide Warren citizens with extensive measures to protect them against West Nile Virus and other mosquito and tick-related illnesses,” said Mayor Fouts in a statement.
Mayor fouts cited a the Center for Disease Control’s report which has identified at least nine diseases that have been discovered or introduced since 2004. These type of illnesses have grown from 27,000 per year to nearly 100,000 per year in a ten-year period.
Ten years ago, Michigan was the second largest state for deaths due to West Nile Virus. Two Warren residents died from West Nile. This year may very well exceed the previous West Nile outbreak with a large number of deaths and even more serious health effects on individuals.
A dedicated outdoor runner, Warren Mayor James Fouts offers the following tips:
- Avoid outdoors at dusk and dawn without protection.
- Cover up even when it’s hot. If you are going for a hike in the woods, wear long pants, shirt sleeves, shoes and socks. Spraying shoes with Permethrin can be effective. Hats in the woods is a good idea too. Avoid any skin exposure.
- Use insect repellant to exposed skin. Repellent types: DEET, Picardin, oil of lemon eucalyptus or para-methane-diol (PMD) or 2-undecanone.
- Minimize exposure in your home and backyard. Make sure screen windows don’t have a hole in them that allow mosquitoes. Check your backyard for mosquito breeding places such as flower pots, bottle caps, tires and other such places for standing water. A mosquito can breed in a bottle cap.
- West Nile adversely affects the very old and very young but anyone with a compromised immune system can die from it. And it can make you very very sick, regardless of age. Zika virus can damage the unborn and causes babies not to develop intellectually beyond six months.