NEW HANOVER, N.C. — Mosquitoes can ruin a fun summer night in an instant. That’s why areas like New Hanover County have mosquito control programs in place.
Doug Scholz, the senior vector control operator for New Hanover County, says that he likes being able to control mosquitoes, because he knows he’s protecting the spread of vector-borne diseases.
“I really enjoy doing mosquito control cause I get to deal with a lot of the community,” said Scholz. “I get to help the community.”
From West Nile virus, to eastern equine encephalitis and everything in between, mosquitoes can carry many deadly diseases — and on top of that, they’re annoying.
Controlling these pesky insects takes a lot of work. Before New Hanover County turns to pesticides, they opt for natural options, like eastern mosquito fish.
“When the adult mosquito lays their eggs on the ground or on containers, and when the water rises and meets those eggs, those eggs float off into the water,” explained Scholz. “So, if that water has been flooded like after [Hurricane] Florence, we’re able to put these fish out and let them take control of those areas and do biological control.”
But that biological control isn’t always enough. Sometimes the vector control team has to step in and conduct pesticide sprays.
“Spraying out of the trucks is our last line of defense, we try to take care of everything in the larva stage in the water,” said Scholz. “So that’s where we try to concentrate most of our efforts and then when it comes to this, we then spray at night for mosquitoes.”
When they do spray, it’s a very low impact, minimally invasive process with EPA-regulated pesticides and make a huge effort to not harm other animals or insects. In fact, the team only sprays at night, so that they don’t harm any bees.
And they don’t spray everywhere, only places with a need. The county decides where to spray based on data from mosquito traps they set throughout the county.
“This is our main data points to be able to spray, so we have to hit a certain amount of thresholds,” said Scholz. “So only female mosquitoes bite humans, so when the CDC says they want at least 100 in a trap per night to warrant spraying for mosquitoes, so that’s what we’re looking for and that gives us our data.”
New Hanover County Vector Control says there’s lots of things residents can do to protect themselves from mosquitoes. That includes wearing insect repellent, staying inside when mosquitoes are most active, wearing clothes that cover your arms and legs, and, most importantly, dumping out standing water around your property at least every five days as mosquitoes need water to lay eggs.