Ticks and mosquitoes may await the pandemic-weary seeking outdoor exercise

Pandemic-weary Americans have begun walking and hiking in recent months to get out of the house while avoiding infection with the novel coronavirus. At the same time, resource-strapped local health departments have been forced to divert money and people to covid-related activities, unwillingly creating openings for outside exercisers to get sick in other ways.

Although woods and trails provide some distance from people, they are home to other dangers — such as ticks that carry bacteria-causing Lyme disease or mosquitoes that transmit West Nile virus — especially now, when bugs are proliferating. These and other insects can pass along potentially serious diseases with a single bite.

Health departments have been spending their budgets and deploying personnel on covid-19 efforts, which hurts their ability to focus on programs that control mosquitoes and ticks, says Chelsea Gridley-Smith, director of environmental health for the National Association of County and City Health Officials.


Continue reading the article by The Washington Post's Marlene Cimons here.

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수상 경력에 빛나는 저희 저널리스트들은 1877년부터 워싱턴과 전 세계를 취재해 왔습니다.

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Sawyer’s spray offers an impressive 12 hours of protection against mosquitoes and ticks, and a little less (eight hours) against flies, gnats, and chiggers.

Korin Miller
Health, Lifestyle and Commerce Writer

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Sawyer’s Permethrin spray has also worked as promised.

Mark Melotik
Freelance Writer

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Sawyer, for example, checks to ensure that no pore size exceeds 0.01 microns, stating that “the filters are then checked four more times at crucial points of assembly for filter integrity before they make their way onto the shelf.”

Dan Hu
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