From: Zelinka, Al
To: Estanislau, Robin; Aguilar, Steven
Cc: Hopkins, Travis
Subject: FW: Vector Report
Date: Thursday, August 24, 2023 2:22:02 PM
Attachments: G.1 Agenda Item.pdf
G.2 Agenda Item.pdf
G.3 Agenda Item.pdf
Robin and Steven – Please provide this as a supplemental communication and please note under City Managers Report on the 9/5 Agenda a simple bullet point of: August update from Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control (OCMVC. Thanks! Al
From: Michael Posey <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2023 6:23 AM
To: Zelinka, Al <[email protected]>
Subject: Vector Report
Good Morning Mr. Zelinka,
There was no report for July as the Board was dark. September meeting schedule conflicts with the League of Cities Conference and may be canceled due to lack of quorum. Confirmation of schedule to follow.
At the August Board meeting, the Board of Trustees received two presentations.
1. The first presentation was from OC Waste and Recycling to discuss the organic waste program. The main takeaways were that the organics programs in Orange County are in the beginning stages with many jurisdictions just starting. The State of California is requiring that all jurisdictions separate out organic waste. The presenter stated that at this time there was no known correlation between the organics programs and an increase in pests. OCMVCD staff will continue to partner with OC Waste and Recycling on messaging to residents and will work with other vector control Districts in the state that have more developed organic waste programs to see what impacts they may have experienced.
2. The second presentation outlined the District’s response to flea-borne typhus. Orange County has seen an increase in flea-borne typhus cases every year. With the increase in human cases, the District has developed a response to address higher risk areas such as public spaces, investigating human cases and investigating areas that fleas have tested positive for flea-borne typhus. Details in attachment G.1. Huntington Beach not affected by typhus but monitoring continues.
3. See Attachment G.2, page 1. Huntington Beach could benefit from including truck magnets on City vehicles and sending out PSAs for enhanced messaging. The graph illustrates how we compare with other cities in utilization of Vector marketing materials. Let’s utilize the PSA and truck magnet materials to get the message out.
4. See Attachment G.3. There has been a concerted effort in targeting mobile home parks for both mosquito breeding and rodent infestation.
There was one business item on the August agenda, which was to update the Expense Reimbursement Policy. The update provides additional clarity on Trustee travel and the types of conferences the Trustees participate in. Motion for approval made by Trustee Posey with a second from Trustee Jung with unanimous approval of the motion.
Reminders:
The Communications Department has been rolling out highlight videos to increase awareness of the District’s role in the community. CLICK HERE
for a link of the videos.
Outreach talking point (City Manager’s report suggestion):
The recent storm has caused many small residential sources to fill up with water, combined with the high summer temperatures, mosquitoes will be thriving in the community. Residents need to inspect their backyards for all water sources, even small sources such as BBQ covers, children’s toys or backyard drains can breed mosquitoes. Any containers should be drained, landscape drains can be treated with store bought products to prevent mosquito breeding or screened to prevent mosquito access.
Homeowner Mosquito
Products: https://www.ocvector.org/files/62f49ab42/DIY_PesticideOptions.pdf Drain
filters: https://www.ocvector.org/files/14275af5e/OCVector_DrainFilterPoster.pdf
INFORMATION ITEM: Department Report
Board Meeting Date: August 17, 2023
Department: Scientific Technical Services
Submitted By: Amber Semrow, Director of Scientific Technical Services
Mosquito Surveillance & Disease Activity:
The California Department of Public Health Vector-Borne Disease Section (CPDH-VBDS) is reporting a total of 14 human cases of West Nile virus (WNV) in the state. Year-to-date CDPH reports a total of 1,998 positive mosquito pools and 236 dead birds across 31 counties.
Additionally, CDPH has reported one human case of St. Louis encephalitis (SLEV) and 182 positive mosquito pools for SLEV so far this year. Please visit www.westnile.ca.gov f or the
distribution map and other resources.
This report covers Disease Weeks 29 to 32 (July 17 – A ugust 11). During these weeks, District personnel set a total of 643 traps (554 routine traps and 89 non-routine traps). Urban routine traps averaged 27.5 mosquitoes per trap night (PTN). Comparatively, last year’s average at this time was 43.4 PTN. The surveillance team collected and identified 47,928 mosquitoes from Week 29 to Week 32. The microbiology lab tested 683 mosquito samples (2,850 YTD) for various infectious diseases. There were 12 mosquito pools that tested positive for WNV (see map for locations). Additionally, 10 dead birds (41 YTD) were tested, none were positive. Below, is a breakdown of the infectious disease testing results.
OCMVCD West Nile Virus Testing and Results 2023 Year-to-Date as Compared to 2022
Disease Agent Tested This
Year Positive
2022 To Date
Tested
2022 To
Date
Positive
West Nile Virus 2,850 12 2,859 22
Dead Birds 41 0 203 0
Human Infections 0 1
Scientific and Technical Services Department
2 County-wide, Monthly Average (Cx. quinquefasciatus, gravid trap, routine sites only)
Weekly Abundance vs. 5-year Abundance: Countywide
0 20
40 60
80 100
120
140
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2023, Monthly, Avg Cx. quinq / Trap Night, Urban Traps
2023 5 Year Avg (2018-2022)
0 20
40 60
80 100
120
140
160
180
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940414243444546474849505152
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC JAN
Abundance PTN
Disease Week
2023 Weekly Abundance Vs. 5 Year Average
Scientific and Technical Services Department
3 Scientific and Technical Services Department
4 Extended Trapping Response:
This month, extended trapping was conducted in six separate high risk area blocks, including Block H1 (La Habra), H5 (Fullerton), H12 (Fullerton), H32 (Westminster), H36 (Santa Ana), and H40 (Santa Ana). None of the blocks have registered a Vector Index of 500 or greater (Epidemic threshold and triggering threshold for truck mounted adult mosquito control). (See Map)
Scientific and Technical Services Department
5 Invasive Aedes
Routine and non-routine surveillance has recovered invasive Aedes aegypti at 67 unique locations.
There is an increase in Ae. aegypti detections and an overall increase in abundance throughout traps set. Below, is an average abundance of Ae. aegypti countywide compared to the last 5 years.
0 2
4 6
8 10
20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52
Jun July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Average Aedes aegypti
abundance
Aedes aegypti Abundance for BG-S
2023 vs 5 Year average (2018 - 2022)
2023 Av.…
Scientific and Technical Services Department
6 Flea-borne Typhus:
There has been one new human case of flea-borne typhus reported to by the Orange County Health Care Agency since the last report. This recent case was in Orange. The total is now 11 cases. Year-to-date, a total of 240 flea pools have been tested for flea-borne typhus, of which 42 were positive for Rickettsia felis none were positive for R. typhi.
INFORMATION ITEM: Department Report
Board Meeting Date: August 17, 2023
Department: Communications Department
Submitted By: Heather Hyland, Director of Communications
Outreach:
The Communications Department’s “Fight Back OC” campaign is ending August 28. There is still time to participate in a variety of ways. The city tracker is still in progress, thank you to all the cities for full county-wide support.
Communications Department
2 Measurements:
From May to June, the District’s social media impressions increased by 11,573 on Instagram, by 11,325 on Twitter, and by 933 on Facebook.
From June to July, the District’s social media impressions increased by 4,655 on Facebook, while decreasing slightly on Twitter and Instagram.
The number of social media posts from May to June increased on Facebook and Twitter, while from June to July, the number of posts only increased on Instagram.
0 5
10 15
20 25
30 35
40 January February March April May June July
Posts in 2023
Facebook Twitter Instagram
0 2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
January February March April May June July
Impressions 2023
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Communications Department
3 Information Technology Department
Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection
Total Detections 3,342
Help Desk Ticketing System
Month of July
Information Technology Department
The following projects have been completed for the month of July:
• Re-cabled and reconfigured board room setup
• Installed outdoor speakers for intercom paging
INFORMATION ITEM: Department Report
Board Meeting Date: Aug 17, 2023
Department: Operations Department
Submitted By: Steve Shepherd, Director of Operations
Mobile Home Park inspections have continued, and the Door-to-Door team has been to 3,686 sites over the past four weeks. During the inspections, there were numerous locations for potential mosquito breeding and the early season educational efforts will help reduce nuisance biting from Aedes mosquitoes. Results of the team’s findings are below:
174 active breeding sites found 399 sites with numerous (30+) sources 3630 plants 3525 small containers
1091 tarps 1031 recyclables
436 fountains 393 rain barrels
126 tires 107 drains
28 cat feeders 8 pools
93.5% inspection rate with only 241refusals
Operations Department
2 In the city of Brea, staff were able to help a mobile home resident connect with resources to deal with a severe rodent infestation. The operations team connected the resident with a pest control operator who was able help solve the infestation issue by fumigating the home.
Exclusion, clean-up, and sanitation services are also underway by the resident and private pest control, and the resident will soon be able to reoccupy the clean, rodent-free home.
The zone inspector from Brea helped facilitate the effort
The District, partnering with VCJPA, provided additional safety training to all seasonal staff. The training included driver safety, driving right-hand drive vehicles, and heat illness prevention.
This is an annual event and helps keep staff safe while performing the important work to achieve the mission.
Operations Department
3 Vector Reduction Coordinator, Michael DuBose, gave a presentation about the District’s use of UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems, or drones) to battle mosquitoes in costal marsh sites across the county. The event was hosted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA hosts these events around the country. They are free, open to the public, and highlight the societal, economic, and educational benefits of drones. The events provide demonstrations and information sessions on public safety training, career opportunities, The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST), and other important aspects of drone ownership and operation.
Staff from the Red Imported Fire Ant team and the lab have been partnering to conduct a study to determine the effectiveness of fire ant bait at different application rates. This is a sixteen- week study and is being conducted at a cemetery in Orange.
During a committee meeting earlier this year, a member of the public utilized their public comment time to inform the District of an overgrown vee ditch along the Santa Ana Gardens Trail. The Vector Reduction Coordinator was able to determine this area is maintained by OC Public Works. Based on the resident’s comments, staff contacted OC Public Works and was able to work with them to identify and clear out this site and several others. The inter-agency communication has helped OC Public Work’s staff understand how maintenance efforts can assist mosquito control and water flowing downstream.