Buzzkill: City plans for second wave of mosquito spraying

By Pete Banda
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com
While the recent rain was much needed for the San Benito area, there are plenty of negative effects that are still being felt, literally. As is always the case, the persistent rain has brought an uprising of mosquitoes that seem to get bigger by the day. Despite many in the community indicating they have not seen any kind of action taken by the City to combat the mosquito problem, Officials say they will be spraying all of San Benito for a second week after covering the entire City less than two weeks ago.
According to a statement from Public Relations Director Martha McClain, spraying will continue through this week between the hours of 4-7 a.m. and then again from 10 p.m. to midnight.
 “Basically, we will spray the city until full coverage is attained,” said Planning & Development director Bernard Rodriguez. “By State law, we must abide by a waiting period of at least 24 hours before we can spray the same area again. We will document the times and area sprayed on a map to ensure complete coverage.”
The City is also providing a public outreach program to educate people on how to avoid creating a favorable environment for mosquitoes to grow. According to the statement from McClain: “Public education is the single most effective method to control the mosquito population. Our staff has obtained and developed bilingual pamphlets which will be dispersed in the heavy populated area and areas which are in need of public education.”
Still, some within the community claim there is not enough being done.
“All I know is I have yet to see any kind of trucks spraying for the mosquitoes and I definitely have not felt any kind of effect of spraying,” said 30-year-old David Perez. “I can’t walk out my front door without being swarmed by mosquitoes.”
In addition to spraying, Vector will also be using Larvacide to target larvae in the breeding habitat before they can mature into adult mosquitos and disperse.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2018/07/09/buzzkill-city-plans-for-second-wave-of-mosquito-spraying/

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