The city of Winkler, Man., is about to get fogged for mosquitoes due to concerns over West Nile virus.
Although provincial officials say there are no cases of West Nile in the region, the order was given to spray for adult culex tarsalis mosquitoes, which have been known to carry the illness.
Winkler Mayor Henry Siemens says there’s been a noticeable increase in the flying pests.
“We’ve been noticing in our community that the counts have been going up, that they’re a nuisance,” Siemens told Global Winnipeg, “particularly first thing in the morning or later in the day.
“I think what really drove the province’s decision was the fact that there’s a fair amount of these culex tarsalis mosquitoes in the area, and there is some West Nile that’s been seen in them. We’ve had no people that have been affected. But I think the concern was we needed to get ahead of this before we did get to that place.”
The fogging will cover a three-kilometre zone around Winkler, which will include some smaller neighbouring villages like Reinfeld, Chortitz and Schanzenfeld.
Siemens said the fog order from the province came as a bit of a surprise, despite the increased number of mosquitoes.
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“Our goal always is to avoid spraying, if at all possible, and that is why we do have a very robust larvicide program,” he said.
“We try to stay ahead of it. And we had been noticing an increase, a significant increase in mosquitoes over the last several weeks. We were, though, just a touch surprised that we were given a fog order when we asked for some additional details.
“The fact (is) that these mosquitoes are a significantly high count … and there is some West Nile indicators there. Again, nothing in people, which is really good. And we don’t want it to get to that place.”
Siemens says the city supports the province’s decision, but its goal after the fogging is complete is to continue to focus on larviciding efforts to prevent this problem from happening in future.
Residents are advised to stay inside and close their doors and windows during spraying, which is expected to begin Thursday evening, depending on weather conditions.
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