Second Round Of Mosquito Spraying Scheduled For Wednesday

COVENTRY, RI — The second round of aerial mosquito spraying in Rhode Island has been rescheduled for Wednesday, weather permitting. If all goes according to schedule, both areas will be covered in one night, the Department of Environmental Management said Tuesday.

Spraying over the two "critical risk" areas was originally planned for Monday night, but bad weather in Massachusetts pushed the schedule back. The first area covers all of West Warwick and parts of Cranston, Warwick, East Greenwich, West Greenwich, Coventry and Scituate. While some of this area was already covered in the first round of spraying, the DEM has expanded the area to include more of Coventry and more of the western and southern parts of West Greenwich. Most of the second area, including parts of Westerly, Charlestown and Hopkinton was also covered in the first round but has been expanded to cover areas in Hopkinton, Richmond, South Kingstown and more of Charlestown.

This year has been especially bad for Eastern equine encephalitis in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Earlier this month, a West Warwick man in his 50s died after contracting the disease. Since then, two more people, a Charlestown resident and a Coventry 6-year-old were also confirmed to have EEE. Both were released from the hospital and are making full recoveries.

For spraying to be successful, weather conditions must be calm with temperatures above 58 degrees. The pesticide used, Anvil 10+10, is used in low concentrations and is not expected to cause any health issues for residents. As an extra precaution, residents are asked to stay inside as much as possible and close their windows while spraying is happening.

The risk of mosquito-borne illness will continue until the first hard frost, the DEM said, so Rhode Islanders are encouraged to continue to take precautions including keeping screens in windows, wearing insect repellent with DEET as the active ingredient and wearing long pants and sleeves while outside.