Overview
- County leaders declared a local public health emergency after health officials recorded trap collections as high as 5,000 mosquitoes and received unusually high complaint volumes about mosquito activity.
- The emergency order authorizes expanded response tools so teams can continue intensive ground treatments and plan coordinated aerial spraying to reduce mosquito populations quickly.
- Aerial operations will be performed by licensed applicators under federal and state rules and require coordination and approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration because some treatment areas sit in controlled airspace.
- Spray plans are being mapped now and officials say aerial treatments are scheduled for next week but remain weather-dependent and subject to change because of active flood watches and ongoing rain.
- State flood declarations and persistent standing water are fueling the outbreak and complicating logistics, raising immediate nuisance and disease‑risk concerns for residents and prompting officials to urge simple precautions like draining standing water and using repellent.