Health departments have trouble pinpointing West Nile due to COVID-19 budget cuts

OHIO — The coronavirus pandemic is having a trickle-down effect on local health departments and their ability to track West Nile Virus.

The Ohio Department of Health is responsible for testing nearly 1,000 pools (or samples) of mosquitos statewide that are sent to them from county health departments, but COVID-19 slashed the agency’s budget and will no longer be testing for the virus this season.

The CDC has stepped in to test for 25 percent of mosquitos in the state, but it’s possible it may take longer than usual to relay positive West Nile samples back to local health departments.

“That was one of the tools we used to know when treat with adulticide with our fogger at night,” Clark County Combined Health District Environmental Director Larry Shaffer told News Center 7′s Jenna Lawson.

Shaffer said last year, there were about a dozen positive pools of West Nile in the county.

There haven’t been any positive pools so far in 2020, but the mosquito season just began about a month ago.

On occasion, it can run into October.

Shaffer said the health district will be doing everything in their power to still make specific determinations about where the West Nile hotspots are in the county if they arise, but says residents also need to be vigilant.

“They need to assume the disease is in their neighborhood,” he said.

Shaffer advised that people take the proper precautions including wearing bug spray with DEET as the active ingredient, wearing long sleeves or pants if they go out at night and getting rid of standing water that may be around their homes.

© 2020 Cox Media Group