THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2021 Page 11 NEMCC provides BOH mosquito activity update By Adam Swift I t’s that time of year where we have to pay attention to the risks of mosquito-borne illnesses, such as West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), again. Tuesday night, representatives from the Northeast Massachusetts Mosquito Control and Wetlands Management District (NEMMC) gave the Board of Health an update on mosquito activity in the region and the services NEMMC provides for the health board and residents. “We work under the state umbrella, and everything we do is integrated pest management,” said NEMMC Entomologist Kimberly Foss. “We don’t just go treat and spray: We do mosquito surveillance; we do biological controls … we also do physical controls, such as property maintenance, and we handle resident requests.” In addition, Foss said the NEMMC does a lot of education and outreach and has resources available for the Board of Health and for residents. She said the organization is busy yearround, beginning with freshwater larviciding in the spring. “There are 52 diff erent kinds of mosquitoes in Massachusetts, and each of the mosquitoes has diff erent habitats and different times of the year when it spreads viruses,” said Foss. Some of the major areas that get treated in Revere are salt marshes and catch basins. In urban areas, such as Revere, Foss said, the mosquitoes that breed in catch basins are a risk for carrying and spreading West Nile virus. In addition to its regular regimen of spraying in the city and the other 31 communities it services, the NEMCC will respond to resident and Board of Health requests for spraying and testing. “Tires that breed mosquitoes, puddles, ponds, anything that may breed mosquitoes or any problem that a resident may RevereTV Spotlight H appy 4th of July! The RevereTV staff hopes everyone had a safe and healthy weekend as your celebrations took place. The studio was closed on Monday in observance of the holiday, but has been busy getting some new community programming together. This week, the RTV summer interns have started. Each intern will be taken through the official community member production classes. These classes include learning all the skills pertaining to fi eld shoots, studio shows, and post-production editing. By the end of the summer season, all RTV interns will be well equipped to be able to create their own community program or contribute independently on a broad production set. Stay tuned for more about RevereTV’s four interns! Chef Kelly Armetta finally made his way back to the kitchen studio for the second offi cial episode of “Cooking Made Simple.” On par with his past programs, Armetta demonstrated how to create a multi-course meal. This week’s episode is on theme with the summer season. All recipes were for a backyard barbecue. The dishes include Jerk Chicken, Smoked Potato Salad, Steak with Green Chimichurri, Barramundi Skewers with Bloody Mary Gazpacho, Broccoli Feta Salad, Baked Bean Salad, and Mexican Corn. Armetta shows you how to make all these dishes in an hour and a half episode! You can fi nd “Cooking Made Simple” episode two airing on the RTV Community Channel throughout the week. It can also be viewed at your convenience on YouTube where the recipes are included in the video description. A few community members submitted new episodes of their programs. Sal Khan of “SAL’S SHOW,” is airing his July episode at its usual timeslot which is Thursday at 7pm and Saturday at 5pm. Judie VanKooiman’s program, “Life Issues,” has its July episode airing on Thursday at 6pm and Sunday at 1pm. There is a new episode of “En Positivo” produced by Diana Cardona on RTV airing at 10am on Saturday and 6pm on Tuesday. Pastor Dan from the First Congregational Church in Revere sends a recording of the services from the previous week. This airs every Sunday at 8am, noon, and 6pm. As a reminder, the RevereTV Community Channel is 8 or 1072 for Comcast subscribers, and 3 or 614 for RCN subscribers. All community programming plays on these television channels. Local government meetings have taken a short hiatus through the holiday but are starting again soon. Until then, most meetings replaying on the RevereTV schedule include all of the Ways and Means Budget Hearings, the latest City Council Meetings, and the Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting. RTV Gov is channel 9 on Comcast and 13 or 613 on RCN. have or a Board of Health may have, they can contact us and we’ll go do a service request,” said Foss. The quickest way to get information on spraying and mosquitoes or to make a request is through the NEMCC website at www.nemassmosquito.org. One of the biggest things the NEMCC does is surveillance and testing of potential problem areas. Foss said that surveillance started about four weeks and typically lasts through October. In Revere, adult mosquito surveillance began the week of May 14, and mosquito pools began being sent to the state’s Department of Public Health on June 14. The NEMCC has completed 18 site inspections for spring and early summer larviciding and completed catch basin larviciding on June 26. There were 142 residential and 66 Board of Health requests for adulticide spraying in June. One mosquito pool was sent to the lab and tested negative for West Nile virus and EEE. “We had one resident request for inspection, but we would like to see a little more,” said Foss. “If people are having problems or concerns, they can easily call us or they can go to our website. They can have us check that puddle of water in front of their house, or if their backyard is wet. We check the salt marshes all the time. Anything they think is questionable, we’ll come look at it.” A BUSINESS CHECKING ACCOUNT THAT CHECKS ALL THE BOXES. TALK TO US TODAY ABOUT OUR DIFFERENT BUSINESS CHECKING ACCOUNTS. WE’LL HELP YOU FIND THE RIGHT OPTION. L Visit our website to learn more at: EVERETTBANK . COM Member FDIC Member DIF RIGHT BY YOU
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