Bite Central

Spraying As the season progresses and we see more West Nile positives, we are likely to see more and more frequent mosquito spraying. We try to have a very quick turnaround time whenever we determine we need to spray, so I apologize for the sometimes-short notice but also remind everyone to confirm scheduled spray dates ASAP so we can notify residents.  We are continuing to use Biomist 3+15 currently (see attached product label). The day after we spray, I try to have post-spray maps posted on our website before noon where you can find more details about the spray. Spray Notification and Do Not Spray Requests Residents can still sign up to receive email notifications for spraying at https://mosquito.myfcph.org/spray-notification-do-not-spray/.  Residents can also find the Do Not Spray request form at this site.  Please share this information with your residents if you can. Messaging Please help us get the word out about personal protection methods: EPA registered bug repellent, long loose sleeves, and pants in light colors, avoid being outdoors at peak mosquito activity hours, and everyone doing their part by removing standing water.  West Nile positive mosquitoes are nothing new to panic about but they are something to be aware of and take precautions.  Infected or not, I think most people would rather not be bitten by mosquitoes. We do have a variety of social media graphics available for use in any of your messaging that can be found at https://mosquito.myfcph.org/prevention-tips-tools/. Tires Our last tire drive of the season is coming up in just over a week, on Saturday, July 29 at Hamilton Township Park on Lockbourne Rd from 9:00 AM – Noon (see attached flyer). If any of your residents have contacted you about disposing of tires, it’s not too late! I want to offer up a hearty thanks to all those of you who offered premises, staffing, communications, and other support to make these events successful. Ticks We recently collected our second-ever Asian longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) in Franklin County. This tick is an invasive species that can reproduce asexually and rapidly expand its population. It is not known to transmit any human illnesses in the United States at this time, but it has been associated with a variety of pathogens in other parts of the world. Collection of this specimen indicates that the Asian longhorned tick has an established population in the area and is likely to continue to be found here. Information on all of the ticks we have collected can be found in our active tick surveillance dashboard (https://fca.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/fafef66432c94d99b020b73f27390854). Other mosquito-borne diseases in the news Malaria has been in the news recently due to locally acquired human cases in Florida and Texas. According to CDC, these are the first cases of malaria acquired in the United States since 2003. Here in Franklin County, as with most of the nation, we are incredibly unlikely to see any local transmission. Prevention for malaria can be accomplished the same way as any other mosquito borne illness including West Nile: prevent mosquito bites! We need to continue to encourage residents to take personal protective measures such as: Catch basin treatment We began catch basin treatments on June 13 and aim to have all areas done by the end of next week, July 7.  Our techs will be treating with a 180-day product. I have been updating catch basin data on our mosquito service request dashboard on the hub site (https://bite-central-fca.hub.arcgis.com/) as areas are being completed every few days.  You can see the total number treated in your area and see them mapped out if you zoom in to your area.  As usual, please remember this dashboard is meant for your internal use and cannot be found on our website. Scrap tires and Aedes albopictus (aka Asian Tiger mosquito) Ae. albopictus are very aggressive day-time biters and are competent vectors for several diseases such as Zika, dengue, and chikungunya.  This species can be difficult to control with our typical sprays as they are not as active at night. Because they are known to breed in scrap tires and other artificial containers, we are partnering with Columbus Public Health this year to host tire turn-in days throughout the summer. Our last event was this past Saturday in Big Run Park. We collected 186 tires from 21 households. Our next event will be July 8 at the Clinton Township Hall on Cleveland Ave. Please reach out if you have any questions! Service requests, tracking dashboard We typically see a spike in service requests around Independence Day, since so many folks are spending time outdoors. The service request tracking dashboard can be found at the "Service Requests" tab above. Please only distribute this link internally as it contains some details like addresses of service complaints that some residents may prefer not to be shared publicly. It is not available on our website so I would recommend bookmarking the hub. Ticks Over the past few years, we have been steadily growing our active tick surveillance program and are constantly pursuing additional means of expansion as ticks account for most vector-borne illnesses reported in the state. If you are receiving complaints from residents regarding ticks either on their own properties or in public spaces like parks, I encourage you to share those with me. To help keep track of data concerning the ticks we collect, I have created an active tick surveillance dashboard, which can be found on the "Ticks" tab. WNV Testing – first positive We are beginning our 4th week of trapping and had our first West Nile Virus positive pool of mosquitoes last week. We do expect to see West Nile infected mosquitoes in our area each summer, so this is nothing unusual.  You will be hearing from me if we find WNV positive mosquitoes within your jurisdiction, but you can always find the results of all of our tests and traps at https://mosquito.myfcph.org/trap-wnv-data/, or on the hub at https://bite-central-fca.hub.arcgis.com/ (please remember the hub site is intended for city/township/village staff). This map is updated every Monday with gravid trap and West Nile test results and then again every Wednesday and Friday evening with the data from the CDC traps (which measure nuisance/floodwater species).  If you would like a more detailed breakdown of which species we are finding, please email me. Scrap tires and Aedes albopictus (aka Asian Tiger mosquito) Ae. albopictus are very aggressive day-time biters and are competent vectors for several diseases such as Zika, dengue, and chikungunya.  This species can be difficult to control with our typical sprays as they are not as active at night.  Because they are known to breed in scrap tires and other artificial containers, we are partnering with Columbus Public Health this year to host tire turn-in days throughout the summer. The next event will be on Saturday, June 24 from 9 AM – Noon at Big Run Park. Spraying We have completed our first few mosquito sprays of the season for both nuisance and West Nile positive mosquitoes. If we determine we need to spray your area, I will reach out to you via email to make sure our proposed date is ok.  Once you have confirmed the date is ok, we will then update our planned spray map at https://mosquito.myfcph.org/spray-schedule-maps/. I will send you an email the day after confirming that the spray was completed and to let you know that the completed spray map is available on our website to view. We try to have a very quick turnaround time whenever we determine we need to spray, so I apologize for the sometimes-short notice but also remind everyone to confirm scheduled spray dates ASAP so we can notify residents.  We are continuing to use Biomist 3+15 currently. The day after we spray, I try to have post-spray maps posted on our website before noon. Spray Notification and Do Not Spray Requests Residents can still sign up to receive email notifications for spraying at https://mosquito.myfcph.org/spray-notification-do-not-spray/.  Residents can also find the Do Not Spray request form at this site.  Please share this information with your residents if you can. Special event sprays As a reminder, we do offer the option to spray for mosquitoes in advance of special events. Please be advised that this service is intended for large, community-wide events like festivals and fireworks displays. We will not be scheduling any regularly recurring mosquito spraying. If you do have an event, please email me and Derek, our site manager, at ddillard@clarke.com.  We will only spray for large outdoor events that are happening in the evening, such as a scheduled movie night in a park or festival.  Day time events or events in a more urban area without wooded areas nearby (i.e., a morning farmers market downtown) usually will not benefit from a spray.  If you are unsure if an event would benefit from a treatment beforehand, feel free to ask us. Nuisance Mosquitoes At this time of year, we typically expect to see a large population of floodwater mosquitoes in many areas across the county, so if you participate in our nuisance mosquito program, I may reach out to you to schedule a spray because of them. To go along with that, we also expect to receive quite a few service requests as we continue to warm up. If any of your residents are reaching out to you with a mosquito complaint, please direct them to our online service request form (https://mosquito.myfcph.org/request-for-service/) or the BITE line, (614) 525-BITE (2483)! Our residents should select option 1 if they are calling the BITE line so that the call gets routed to Clarke’s designated Franklin County customer care team member.  We really do rely on our residents using these tools to inform us of mosquito issues! Service requests, tracking dashboard The service request tracking dashboard can be found at our hub site here: https://bite-central-fca.hub.arcgis.com/.  Please only distribute this link internally as it contains details like addresses of mosquito service complaints that some residents may prefer not to be shared publicly.  It is not available on our website so I would recommend bookmarking the hub. Special event sprays As a reminder, we do offer the option to spray for mosquitoes in advance of special events. Please be advised that this service is intended for large, community-wide events like festivals and fireworks displays. We will not be scheduling any regularly recurring mosquito spraying. If you do have an event, please email me and Derek, our site manager, at ddillard@clarke.com.  We will only spray for large outdoor events that are happening in the evening, such as a scheduled movie night in a park or festival.  Day time events or events in a more urban area without wooded areas nearby (i.e., a morning farmers market downtown) usually will not benefit from a spray.  If you are unsure if an event would benefit from a treatment beforehand, feel free to ask us. Surveillance Start Regular surveillance will begin the week of May 14. The trap schedule remains unchanged from last year: Gravid traps for Culex mosquitoes will be set Sunday evenings, then counted, identified, and tested for West Nile Virus on Mondays. We should have test results each Monday by 3:00 PM, at which point I will be reaching out to any jurisdictions with positive tests to schedule a spray event. Please keep an eye out for this communication and reply to confirm the scheduled spray as quickly as possible! CDC Light traps will be set on Tuesday evenings in the west, and Thursday evenings in the eastern half of the county. If your jurisdiction participates in our nuisance mosquito control program, these traps may also trigger a spray event. This schedule may shift slightly on holiday weeks. Special Events If you know of any community events in your jurisdiction for which you would like to schedule a special event spray, it’s never too early to get that scheduled. Please be advised that this service is intended for large, community-wide events like festivals and fireworks displays. We will not be scheduling any regularly recurring mosquito spraying. If you do have an event, please email me and Derek, our site manager, at ddillard@clarke.com.  As a reminder, we usually only spray for large outdoor events that are happening in the evening, such as a scheduled movie night in a park or a festival.  Daytime events or events in a more urban area without wooded areas nearby (e.g., a morning farmers’ market downtown) usually will not benefit from a spray.  If you are unsure if an event would benefit from a treatment beforehand, feel free to ask us. Additionally, if you are planning any touch-a-truck or similar community events this summer, we would be thrilled to attend! These events provide a great opportunity for us to meet families and talk to them one-on-one about the mosquito issues they are experiencing. Please reach out to me and Derek, our site manager, at ddillard@clarke.com with the event info. Scrap Tires and Aedes albopictus (aka Asian Tiger mosquito) Ae. albopictus are very aggressive daytime biters and are competent vectors for several diseases such as Zika, dengue, and chikungunya.  This species can be difficult to control with our typical sprays as they are not as active at night.  Because they are known to breed in scrap tires and other artificial containers, we are partnering with Columbus Public Health this year to host four tire turn-in days throughout the summer. These events allow residents to properly dispose of any scrap tires at no charge and pick up a packet of mosquito control tablets for use at home, if desired, as well. I want to offer a sincere thanks to all the folks who have helped arrange these events over the years – collectively, we have removed several thousands of tires from the environment and eliminated breeding locations for many generations of mosquitoes. It’s really something to be proud of! Dates and locations for the tire events this summer can be found below. Ticks Ticks continue to present a growing issue in our area, and May is peak season for adult American Dog ticks, Lone Star ticks, and nymphal Blacklegged ticks (the ones most likely to transmit Lyme Disease). We also recorded the first specimen of the Asian Longhorned tick in Franklin County last September. We have now implemented our active tick surveillance program and are working on expanding it this year. Because our contract with Clarke only covers mosquito-related services, the work for this program will be done by me and an Environmental Health Technician. If you were unaware, there is no additional cost to you for tick surveillance, so please, take advantage of this service! You can reach out to me directly to discuss tick surveillance in your area. Finally, I have created a tick surveillance dashboard to show what kinds of ticks we are finding and where we are finding them. It can be viewed on the tick page of this site. Trap Locations Thanks to the excited participation of many of our residents, we have already secured locations for all of our traps for the coming season! Regular surveillance is set to start the week of May 15, and the trapping and testing schedule will remain unchanged from last year. I will provide more details next month, but feel free to reach out with any questions. Field Inspections Clarke staff began mosquito breeding site inspections the first week of April, and will continue through October. Controlling mosquito breeding is the single most effective method of controlling the mosquito population, so if you know of any standing water or flooded areas in your jurisdiction, please let us know! Service Requests If any of your residents are reaching out to you with a mosquito complaint, please direct them to our online service request form (https://mosquito.myfcph.org/request-for-service/) or the BITE line, (614) 525-BITE (2483)! Our residents should select option 1 if they are calling the BITE line so that the call gets routed to Clarke’s designated Franklin County customer care team member.  We really do rely on our residents using these tools to inform us of mosquito issues! Hub Last year, we launched a hub site to host mosquito and tick data to share with you. This site includes all the information currently provided on our main website (surveillance, test results, spray schedule) as well as our service request dashboard, trap locations, and larval control applications. It will be updated throughout the year, and I will be posting these update messages to it as well. The site can be found at https://bite-central-fca.hub.arcgis.com/. As of right now, last year’s data is still on the main FCPH website and the hub, but over the next few weeks, I will be changing everything over for the 2023 season. Please keep in mind that the hub site has some information that is intended for internal use only and should not be shared with the public. If there is additional or specific data you would like to see for your jurisdiction, if you encounter any difficulty in using the hub site, if you would like to suggest any changes or additions, or if you prefer a static report, please let me know. Spray Schedule Web App For those of you who embed our spray schedule map on your website, I have made some minor changes to the app. The URL for the new map tool is https://fca.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8da9852d2f284303b7f79897a830b0b1. Please update your website if applicable, as the old map is no longer being updated. Touch-a-truck If you are planning any touch-a-truck or similar community events this summer, we would be thrilled to attend! These events provide a great opportunity for us to meet families and talk to them one-on-one about the mosquito issues they are experiencing, and to educate them about our program and the ways they can control mosquitoes around their homes. Please reach out to me and Derek, our site manager, at ddillard@clarke.com with the event info. Changes at FCPH As some of you already know, Sarah Fink accepted a position with Delaware Public Health District in the winter. Our new section supervisor is Rich Stewart (copied), who has some experience in Delaware County’s mosquito management program. I will still be the main point of contact for anything mosquito or tick related, but you may be hearing from Rich as well, especially if you deal with pools, body art facilities, or other programs that fall under the Community Environmental Health umbrella. To see results of our tire drives, check out our tire collection dashboard here

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