Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder demands more
mosquito eradication in the Sandy-damaged Rockaways
City
does regular bug sweeps, but lawmaker says it won't be enough post-Sandy. He
says the storm created 'the perfect habitat.'
You’ll
be seeing a lot of these pests in the Rockaways this summer, said a state
lawmaker.
Storm-ravaged
Rockaway residents could have one more thing to worry about this summer — even
larger swarms of mosquitoes.
Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder is calling
on the Health Department to ramp up its monitoring of mosquitoes along the
peninsula, saying Superstorm Sandy left even more fertile breeding grounds for
the pernicious pests.
He also asked the agency to work with
the Sanitation Department to identify and enforce lot cleaning to remove the
bugs, which carry West Nile Virus and other diseases.
"Leftover debris and abandoned
lots have created the perfect habitat," said Goldfeder (D-Rockaway).
The city regularly monitors mosquito
pools for evidence of West Nile Virus. In previous years, it has also agreed to
take the unusual step of spraying pesticide to cut down the population of
nuisance mosquitoes that don't carry diseases.
Goldfeder says even more must be
done.
Since the virus was first detected in
Queens in 1999, more than 111 human cases
have been discovered - almost double than in other boroughs.
No comments:
Post a Comment