Spring is here, which means mosquito season is rapidly approaching. But does the drought we’re in mean fewer mosquitoes out and about? Vector Control said, not quite.
Robert Lopez, Jr., a coordinator at Vector Control, said it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen with mosquitoes since West Texas weather can be so unpredictable.
“One of the biggest challenges is knowing what we’re going to be dealing with,” said Lopez. “I don’t think we can make a prediction, we have to wait until the end of the season to see what it’s going to be like.”
Right now with the little rain, Vector Control said the populations are low but that could change any second, which means they can’t let their guard down.
“Right now, we’re worried about West Nile, but there’s Zika, all these diseases that are not prevalent right now but could be, possibly. We have six of 28 species that we have here that could carry disease,” said Lopez. “We always got to be ready because you never know.”
They spend all year preparing and surveying to keep mosquito numbers low. To do that, they collect mosquitoes from more than 900 square miles then test them for disease.
“We want to make sure, you know, the public knows we’re out there doing our routine inspections, and we do them daily. We don’t do everything based on weather,” said Lopez. “We do it to make sure we’re not missing anything and doing our best to protect people from diseases.”
He also said that because people have started to water their lawns more frequently for spring, mosquitoes can be hatched in excess water. That means there will be at least some mosquitoes this summer.
Now, Vector Control is focusing on killing the larva populations found in water instead of adult insects.
“We’re killing the population 80 to 90 percent before, now we’re dealing with the 10 percent before they can come out, before they can fly out and bite us,” Lopez said.
Vector Control did say they’ve seen a couple cases of West Nile Virus, but nothing to be concerned about. They want to remind people that the best ways to protect yourself from dangerous mosquitoes are to avoid being outside during dusk and dawn and cover as much skin as possible.
