COVID-19 takes a sip from the West Nile Virus test

Salt Lake City—West Nile virus testing in Utah this season was a fraction of what it was last year due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Mosquito control areas and the Department of Health said they are keeping resources away from the West Nile virus as it is needed to combat coronaviruses.

“Fortunately, there are not so many positive mosquito pools this year,” said Ary Faraji, executive director and entomologist at the mosquito control area of ​​Salt Lake City.

Faraji is also the current chairman of the American Mosquito Control Association.

“Mosquitoes are not always at home, and you can’t kill them from home,” he said.

This is one of the reasons the West Nile virus test went down this season.

The seasonal staffing they rely on fieldwork is down because of the virus.

Faraj suspected that many people who would otherwise have applied did not apply this year.

“It was very difficult to adjust at the beginning of the season,” he said. “We just didn’t have enough staff.”

This delayed the test.

“Unfortunately, until last week, we tested only about 5% of last year’s 2019 tests at the state level,” Faraji said.

Some mosquito control areas, such as in Salt Lake City, failed after donating equipment to hospitals.

“For example, we’ve actually donated an extractor to Intermountain Healthcare, and we can help with coronavirus testing across the state,” Faraji said.

This is the key machine they use in the lab. Intermountain replaced it with a new one last week, and Faraji predicted that the extraction program would soon be available to work with West Nile Virus.

The mosquito repellent area also donated N95 masks and personal protective equipment to health workers.

“We have donated many of them to the county health department, for example,” Faraj said. “In a way that they can distribute them to the public health workers at the forefront.”

The work of collecting and inspecting mosquitoes was completely unstoppable.

The West Nile virus has spawned more tests this week in mosquito control areas in the state, according to Faraj.

“We are very fortunate that all of our mosquito control areas are now at full capacity. We have the right people in place so they can do field work,” he said.

So far, no human case of West Nile virus has been reported, and only one positive mosquito pool has been reported in the Uintah basin.

“The good news is that our surveillance hasn’t really fallen at all this season,” Faraj said. “We are still trapping the field. We are still collecting those mosquitoes.”

He reminded everyone to use insect repellent outside from dusk to dawn and to remove water from the garden to clean the mosquito breeding ground.

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