LIVE – Staying Safe During Mosquito Season

FARGO, ND – It looks like Mosquito season is here, and it’s here with a vengeance.

Cass County Vector Control Graph showing increase in mosquitoes in traps

On Tuesday, traps around the Metro were averaging just over 38 mosquitoes per trap, prompting vector control to start spraying last night. When they checked those traps again last night, they saw that number had tripled, to a little over 127 mosquitoes per trap.

Cass County Vector Control will be spraying again tonight, at 8:10 PM.

This time they will be targetting rural areas in Cass County, in which most of the traps are over the threshold they use for spraying.

“We are very data driven, our traps are really the core metric of the things that trigger our responses when it comes to establishing the need for a truck mounted spray or an aerial spray, and we recently exceeded that metric, that threshold, and that threshold is 35 female mosquitoes per trap per night,” said Ben Prather, Director of Cass County Vector Control.

The last thing we want is for anybody to get bit, so we do have some tips for you courtesy of the CDC.

1. Use insect repellent, visit this link to see EPA approved mosquito repellents.
2. Cover those arms and legs! Wear long sleeves. I know it’s summer but it’s better then getting bit all over.
3. If you can, use your air condition, keeping those windows and doors closed, or using screens to keep the mosquitoes out of your house.
4. If you can’t do any of those things, consider purchasing a mosquito bed net for when you sleep.