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Date: 8/15/2023
NORTHAMPTON — In a statement sent out to the public, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra said that the recent increase in mosquitoes due to unseasonable rainfall is not a public health emergency, but the city will continue to monitor the situation.
“While it is uncomfortable and definitely unpleasant, the increased mosquito population has not reached the level of a public health emergency that would trigger a pesticide control response,” Sciarra said.
According to Sciarra, the increased mosquito activity has lead the city to amend its contract to receive additional services with their mosquito control company that does regular seasonal larvicide to reduce breeding activity.
“When data indicates that the risk for human infections is increasing and is not adequately reduced by other measures, MDPH [Massachusetts Department of Public Health] will work with the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and convene with mosquito control districts to get recommendations for appropriate mosquito control interventions to reduce the public health risk,” Sciarra said.
As of press time, there have been 15 positive West Nile Virus mosquito samples across the state, four in the Pioneer Valley and two in Hampshire County. The two in Hampshire County were found in South Hadley and Hadley.
According to Sciarra, these numbers do not represent a major threat to human health and are not unusual.
“Hampshire County has had only two reported human cases of West Nile Virus in the last 10 years, neither of which were in Northampton,” Sciarra said.
Currently, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health disease risk map has Northampton at a remote risk for eastern equine encephalitis and low risk for West Nile.
Despite these determinations, Sciarra said that Merridith O’Leary, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Health and Human Services, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health are still monitoring the situation, but using pesticides to mitigate the situation is currently not an option.
“We know that broadly applying pesticides to kill adult mosquitos that are not posing a disease risk is not the preferred response and could have unintended consequences for public health and the environment,” Sciarra said. “It is a last-resort action that should only be taken in cases where the disease risk outweighs the other health and environmental concerns.”
Instead, the Pioneer Valley Mosquito Control District is trapping and testing mosquitoes to monitor for diseases that could pose a risk to humans.