Mosquito spraying scheduled for cities in Broward and Palm Beach but not Miami-Dade

Mosquito control agencies in Broward and Palm Beach counties announced plans to spray insecticides by truck and air this week after recent rainfall from Hurricane Irma and the resulting rise in mosquitoes. But Miami-Dade’s mosquito control department said it won’t be spraying until all residents have their power back.

In Broward, the county’s mosquito control agency announced plans to spray a biological larvicide from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday in Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale and again from Sept. 25-29 in the cities of Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill, North Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Tamarac and Wilton Manors.

Palm Beach is the only county that has announced plans for aerial spraying of insecticides beginning at sunset on Tuesday in neighborhoods west of Military Trail, including the communities of Jupiter Farms, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Loxahatchee Groves, Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Belle Glade and the western areas of Boca Raton.

In Miami-Dade, mosquito control officials said they have reinstated residential inspections and redeployed a surveillance network of traps to monitor the number of mosquitoes in the county. But Miami-Dade has no plans to spray insecticides by any method until all residents have power again, said spokeswoman Gayle Love.

“We certainly don’t want to be applying any insecticide while people don’t have power and their windows may be open and they just don’t have the best conditions,” Love said.

Once power is fully restored in Miami-Dade, Love said, the county will resume its schedule of spraying by truck and, when necessary, by air.

There are still no reported cases of the Zika virus spread by mosquitoes in Florida this year, though the health department has recorded 175 cases, including 135 infections acquired by people traveling outside the state. The remaining cases recorded this year include 10 local infections from 2016 that were tested in 2017, and another 30 cases involving people with no symptoms but whose source of infection was undetermined.

This story was originally published September 18, 2017 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Mosquito spraying scheduled for cities in Broward and Palm Beach but not Miami-Dade."