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The roar of aircraft flying low passes over Lakeland on Tuesday evening made a lot of residents wonder what was going on. After they discovered that the Beechcraft turbo-prop planes were spraying for mosquitoes, some welcomed the news while others expressed safety concerns.
The spraying was scheduled to resume around Polk County on Wednesday evening, take a break Thursday when people are out and about for Halloween and then resume on Friday.
Spraying is taking place from dusk to dawn, approximately 8 p.m. through 5 a.m., while most residents are indoors, Polk County officials said. Originally spraying was supposed to start last weekend, but it was delayed until Tuesday. There has been no word on how many days it will last.
Standing water from Hurricane Milton has brought more mosquitoes. And that has led to the county getting requests for mosquito spraying, county spokesperson Lauren Lengyel McCall wrote in a press release.
Deadly diseases: “Though they are small, mosquito bites pack a powerful punch,” Polk County Mosquito Control officials state on their website. Diseases spread by mosquitoes include West Nile virus, malaria, Zika virus, chikungunya virus and dengue.
“Mosquitoes can carry them, and one bite from an infected mosquito can lead to debilitating disease and even death for a human or animal,” said Jackson Mosley, manager of Polk County Mosquito Control.
Mosquito control: The aerial spraying is intended to kill adult mosquitoes. It is done at night when adult mosquitoes are most active and when most non-target insects, like bees, dragonflies, and butterflies, are not as active, county officials say.
When using a chemical spray, county officials say they rotate the kind of chemicals used so mosquitoes do not build up a resistance.
“Because of the very small amount of active ingredient released per acre of ground, the United States Environmental Protection Agency found that for all scenarios considered insecticide exposures are hundreds or even thousands of times below an amount that might pose a health concern,” Polk County Mosquito Control’s website states.
In addition, “when mosquito control is planning to spray, they alert the beekeeping community so that honeybees, who play an important pollination role in society, can be protected,” they say.
Lost bee hives: But Theresa Greene Lamerson said she loses her bee hives when they spray.
“It kills all pollinators, dragonflies, butterflies and other bugs,” she said in a comment on LkldNow’s Facebook page. “The flowers are sprayed, so the pollen and nectar is toxic and they take this back to the hives. Then the birds have trouble finding bugs to eat. I (live in) northwest Lakeland and the mosquitoes are not bad; poison always is. It settles IN water dishes for pets.”
But some people asked for their areas to be sprayed on the Polk County Government Facebook page. Some thanked the county for already spraying their areas; others requested a flight plan so they could plan to stay indoors or protested spraying an insecticide.
Eager for spraying: “Please spray over Mulberry! Otherwise Halloween will be unbearable!” Stephanie Bryant wrote.
“Thank you Polk County Mosquito Control, for aerial spraying,” wrote LK Ennis, “The mosquitoes are very bad in Hidden Oaks off of Lunn and Parker Road.”
“Old Dade City Road is needed bad after all our water standing,” Jane Saulsbury wrote. “Please.”
“Y’all need to get y’all butts out here in Polk City,” wrote Merrill Levi. “I had one just yesterday try and mug me.”
Anger: Others, though, were angry.
“Spraying was before 8 p.m. and was getting into the eyes of kids at Mulberry Youth Baseball/Softball during their games,” wrote Joe Wells.
“Great. More ways to poison us, the water, the animals, the kids, the top soil,” wrote a man identifying himself as Maddox Maddox. “You guys are out of your mind if you think coating us with chemicals is a good idea even if it actually kills a few mosquitoes (shaking my head).”
“This is NOT enough notice!!!” Stephanie Widner wrote. “Besides people that have asthma or walk their dogs in the cooler evenings, many people have livestock (and need to cover their water troughs) etc. A map showing the spray areas would be helpful as well. Tampa is always advertising they are giving away those mosquito -eating fish. When is Polk County gonna try a multi prong approach??”
Integrated approach: But Mosely said Polk County uses an integrated approach to mosquito control throughout the year.
“We don’t reach for the chemical gun immediately,” Mosely said. “Instead, we do everything, from surveillance to treatments to resistance testing and public outreach.”
Last year, the mosquito control department deployed more than 3,600 traps in Polk County, capturing hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes. The mosquito-specific traps are placed near populated areas on a weekly basis. These traps are baited with dried ice that emits carbon dioxide as it melts to mimic human breath. This attracts mosquitoes.
This process helps to identify which mosquito species are present, which determines the treatment mosquito control will use.
What you can do: The county outlines two more steps to mosquito control, ones the public should participate in: prevention and source reduction.
Mosley recommends applying a repellant such as DEET to your skin and eliminating sites where mosquitoes breed and lay eggs.
“Eliminate containers that hold water,” Mosley said. “Whether it’s a tire, a flowerpot, a toy or a birdbath, get rid of it, or drain and cover it. When they’re wet, these things are great places for mosquitoes to have their eggs in and produce more mosquitoes.
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Sure hope it controls/terminates Bill Gates Genetically Modified Mosquitoes that were released! https://www.cdc.gov/mosquitoes/mosquito-control/genetically-modified-mosquitoes.html