Mosquito & Zika Virus in Bonita Springs, Florida
I went to a CERT class in Collier County tonight and the speaker was from the health department talking about ZIKA. It was interesting and I snapped shots of the screen and flyers to share with you all by way of the Bonita Springs Estero Community Forum I run on Facebook but thought I’d put it on my Bonita Springs website, too. The photos are best viewed on a PC or larger screen tablet, of course.
To join the forum, click here: Bonita Springs Estero Community Forum
The big take away items from this meeting about Zika Virus was:
1. Standing clean water breeds mosquitoes, which we all know,but they only live 200 yards from where they are born so if you're getting bit, there is standing water somewhere near you. If you flush water like bird baths and bromeliads (which are apparently huge breeding pools) once per week you will interrupt their life cycle by killing their larvae.
2. You must also put sunscreen on first and then bug spray for either product to work correctly when wearing both at the same time.
3. If you buy bug spray to wear to protect yourself from the ZIKA carrying mosquitoes you must read the % of ingredients. It may read DEET on the label but it must have 30% DEET to be effective. Many skimp with as little as 2%!! There's more info in the photos attached.
4. Paralysis and extreme muscle weakness can be a condition of being bit by the mosquito carrying ZIKA.
I'm not a pro on ZIKA but have provided what I was able to gather from the meeting and collect a few photos. Whether you live in the Bonita Springs area or not, the practices and principals are going to be quite similar. Contact your local health department to learn more about how it would effect your family members and how to manage your home and surroundings to not contribute to the mosquito population.
As far as the economy and real estate market vs. ZIKA, it is not influencing home buyers or sellers to date. (Sept 2016) The massive retirement population moving south and buying homes has not changed. If you have questions about ZIKA in Bonita Springs or any of the other surrounding cities such as Estero, Fort Myers and Naples, Florida contact the Florida Department of Health.
You can learn more by visiting their website: Zika Virus in Florida