Mérida, Yucatán — The battle continues against mosquitoes that are potentially spreading dengue, chikungunya and zika.
The city administration’s third campaign is planned for July 4-8, with the participation of 252 municipal employees grouped into 36 brigades. The plan to reach every colonia and comisaría within city limits: 230,000 homes in all.
Again, city workers will go door-to-door to educate residents about the newest health dangers associated with mosquito bites, and how to spot places on your site where mosquitoes could be breeding. Brigades will be looking for areas with standing water, for example. It’s not unusual, even now, to find yards with discarded tires or flower pots, for example.
Three fogger machines will spray public spaces such as cemeteries and bike routes.
Vacant lots
The City Council is also cracking down on hundreds of abandoned properties, and is authorizing the clearing of weeds or abandoned cars.
A broader campaign, operated by state officials in May, reached 271,945 homes across Yucatán. Of that total, 47.18 percent of owners allowed workers to inspect the house and eliminate breeding sites, no one answered the door at 31.54 percent of the homes; 10.75 percent of the houses were uninhabited and 10.5 percent would not allow the brigade to enter and perform their job.
Under law, homeowner compliance with the brigade is voluntary.
The Peninsula recorded two deaths from dengue, one in the state of Campeche and one in Quintana Roo. No deaths have been reported in Yucatán.
The Department of Epidemiology of Communicable Diseases of the Federal Ministry of Health Monitoring reports 265 cases among the three states: 77 in Yucatán, 130 in Quintana Roo and 58 in Campeche.
Nationally, 58 percent of the confirmed cases are in Guerrero, Chiapas, Veracruz, Michoacan and Nuevo Leon.
