Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Santa Ana's top news & views blog

Tag Archives: OC Vector Control District

OC Vector Control will be spraying chemicals in Santa Ana on Sep. 26 and 27

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A Message from the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District (OCMVCD):

Based on mosquito trapping counts collected on September 18 and 20, OCMVCD staff has identified high mosquito abundance and West Nile virus-positive mosquitoes in areas of Santa Ana and Orange. The District’s current treatment criteria states that adult mosquito control is initiated when 75 or more female mosquitoes are identified in a mosquito trap per trap night or when mosquitoes test positive for West Nile virus, and all the areas have met one or both of this criteria.

The Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District (OCMVCD) will be conducting adult mosquito control applications via backpack and truck on the dates and times indicated below. Continue reading→

The O.C. Vector Control District will be spraying chemicals in Santa Ana this week

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A Message from the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District (OCMVCD):

Based on mosquito trapping counts collected on September 5 and 7, OCMVCD staff has identified high mosquito abundance in areas of Huntington Beach, La Habra, Orange and Santa Ana. The District’s current treatment criteria states that adult mosquito control is initiated when 75 or more female mosquitoes are identified in a mosquito trap per trap night, and all the areas have exceeded the threshold. Continue reading→

What we now know about the chemical sprayed in Santa Ana by the O.C. Vector Control District this week

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The Orange County Vector Control District is now saying that they did not conduct any aerial spraying of any chemicals in Santa Ana and surrounding cities yesterday. Well we never said they did! We pointed to their own Facebook page and website where they admitted to backpack spraying.

The OC Vector Control District is also claiming that the chemicals they used are water-based and odorless. Continue reading→

Invasive tiger mosquitoes have increased by 330% in Orange County this year

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Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District

Invasive Aedes Mosquitoes Increase in Numbers as they Spread Across Orange County

Garden Grove, CA. The Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District (OCMVCD) has seen a significant increase in the presence of the invasive Aedes mosquitoes within Orange County. The mosquito species Aedes aegypti (yellow fever mosquito) and Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger mosquito) are not native to the county and are capable of transmitting debilitating viruses including dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika. While these viruses are not currently transmitted locally, transmission could begin if someone infected abroad returns to Orange County and is bitten by the invasive mosquito. Vector Control officials are urging residents to take the necessary precautions to reduce mosquito breeding and to avoid bites from these aggressive day-biting mosquitoes.

The District’s surveillance and increased calls from residents confirm that in 2017, the presence of the invasive Aedes mosquitoes has increased in acreage by 330% within Orange County since last year. Continue reading→

The West Nile Virus is back – but don’t panic!

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The Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District issued a panicky press release today as they have confirmed the first mosquito samples infected with West Nile virus (WNV) in the City of Santa Ana for 2016.

The mosquitoes were collected in a mosquito trap at Alona St. & 21st St., and on E. Chestnut Ave. Their teams will be posting the areas this week. They will also be sending crew members to alert residents to the detection of WNV and preventative measures residents can take to protect themselves and their families from mosquitoes and WNV. Continue reading→

No need to panic over the new mosquito species in Orange County

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Asian Tiger Mosquito

Asian Tiger Mosquito

Orange County Vector control officials are freaking out over reports from Orange County residents about a new invasive species of mosquito, know as the Asian tiger mosquito, at two homes in Los Alamitos and an industrial park in Huntington Beach.

They are also hunting down and killing another non-native and invasive tropical species called the Yellow Fever mosquito, which has turned up in part of Mission Viejo and is now in Garden Grove and Santa Ana, according to the O.C. Register.

The Vector Control District tried to spray toxic chemicals throughout central Orange County a few weeks ago only to be rebuffed because they did not file the right paperwork to be able to spray over Disneyland.  They did this ostensibly to try to stop the common house mosquitoes as they can carry the West Nile Virus.  However there have only been 63 cases of the West Nile Virus in Orange County this year – and only two deaths (both elderly men in their 80’s. Continue reading→

It is time to take down the Orange County Vector Control District

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OC Vector Control District Hacks

Just some of the hacks who serve on the Orange County Vector Control District’s Board of Trustees

From the OC Politics Blog

Is it time to fold the Orange County Vector Control District (OCVCD) into the Orange County Health Care Agency?  The OCVCD got caught this week trying to spray insecticides in several inner city neighborhoods of Santa Ana, after sending out a last minute press release last Friday about spraying that was at the time to take place on Monday.

I wrote a series of posts over at my New Santa Ana blog that exploded on Facebook, generating over 60,000 views and thousands of calls and emails to the many local politicians whose contact information appeared in my posts.  By Monday the OCVCD was waving the white flag.  They “suspended” the spraying due to the weather but the reality is that the backlash I generated, which I ended up calling “Mosquito Gate” made the spraying a total no-go.

Residents said they were unaware of the spraying and reacted online, with some calling the procedure a “toxic spray down.” Some residents questioned why only specific neighborhoods were targeted. Others who work in the early hours expressed concern of health effects associated with the scheduled early-morning spraying, according to the OC Register. Continue reading→

Recap of tonight’s Santa Ana City Council meeting – mosquitoes, homeless and Lou Correa

Posted on by Posted in Civic Affairs, homeless, Lou Correa, Orange County Vector Control District, Santa Ana 35 Comments

Mike Hearst, OC Vector Control District Manager

The OC Vector Control District tries to explain themselves

Jared Dever, the Director of Communications for the OC Vector Control District, showed up at tonight’s Santa Ana City Council meeting to explain why his agency tried to spray an insecticide on homes in Santa Ana’s inner city neighborhoods a few weeks ago.

Santa Ana Council Members Michele Martinez and David Benavides spoke up and asked that Dever and the OCVCD learn from this episode.  That is because this mosquito spraying decision blew up in everyone’s face.

When we posted about the mosquito spraying, which was announced on a Friday and was supposed to happen the following Monday, the post went viral on Facebook and because I posted the email addresses of the City Council members they each received hundreds of emails from angry residents.

What to do about the proposed Santa Ana Homeless Shelter Continue reading→

The OC Vector Control District will be promoting spraying at Tuesday’s City Council meeting

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Standing water at the Santa Ana City Hall

Just when you thought the threat of the Orange County Vector Control District spraying chemicals on our homes here in Santa Ana was over, the OCVCD is scheduled to make a presentation to the Santa Ana City Council at tomorrow night’s City Council meeting, set for Oct. 7, 2014, at 7 pm, at the Council’s Chambers.

The OCVCD recently made headlines again when they proposed spending a million dollars on an exhibit about mosquitoes at the Discovery Center in Santa Ana.

However as we have disclosed in recent articles the West Nile Virus problem in Santa Ana is almost entirely focused on the homeless population.  The homeless sleep outside and as such are more exposed to mosquitoes than the rest of us.  As such spraying our homes is senseless and most likely is just engineered to scare us into allowing the OCVCD to raise our property taxes again.  It is a tax heist. Continue reading→

The OC Vector Control District wants to raise property taxes to pay for a museum exhibit

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OC Vector Control District Hacks

The OC Vector Control District’s Trustees never tire of raising your property taxes!

From the OC Politics Blog

Today, the Orange County Vector Control District’s Board of Trustees “will consider contracting with the Discovery Science Center for a decade of exhibit space costing $1 million – averaging out to $100,000 a year,” according to the O.C. Register’s Watchdog.

Naturally, the OVCD’s staff is recommending a hike of about $1 a parcel that would bring in some $500,000 annually to pay for this exhibit.  They want to raise our property taxes even though the OCVCD is awash in cash – they have a cushion of almost 70 percent of what it spends in a year.

As we suggested in a recent post, this is the epitome of a bloated County agency that really should be absorbed into the OC Health Care Agency – and all of their field spraying and extermination activities should be outsourced to contractors.  This agency owes millions of dollars in unfunded pension and health benefit liabilities that we could avoid further via outsourcing! Continue reading→