How New York City Is Fighting the Growing Threat of Zika

New York Magazine (August 22, 2016): How New York City Is Fighting the Growing Threat of Zika, by Charley Lanyon

With Zika on the rise in places further South like Florida, New York City is taking note of the failure of adequate preparation in other states to avoid the spread of the virus. While the common carrier of the virus, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, generally doesn't fly as far up as New York City, the related Asian Tiger mosquito does bite in New York, and some are worried that they too could become carriers of the virus. New York wants to target mosquitos in a different and more aggressive way, and intends to use a significant portion of its budget to do so: 

 Thus, the city is going after the Asian tiger mosquito hard, with large-scale predawn insecticide sprayings from the backs of  pickup trucks and smaller more-targeted assaults from teams of exterminators with backpacks full of mosquito poison that focus on areas believed to be especially high-risk.

Even with all of the precautions, city officials are quick to reiterate that there has not been a single case of mosquito- transmitted Zika in New York City, and they are hopeful that there will never be one. The biggest danger for catching Zika in the city is through unsafe sexual contact with an individual who has been infected abroad. So at least for now, the ability to control the spread of Zika in New York lies as much with the individual as the city. Be safe.