Connecticut will be testing mosquitos this year for Eastern Equine Encephalitis, a rare but potentially deadly virus. Funding for the program had been held up by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Patrick Armstrong is the director of mosquito surveillance for the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
“In addition to our existing network of traps, we have a network of 92 trapping locations statewide and we’re going to be increasing that effort to another 15 additional sites primarily in eastern Connecticut where EEE virus was such a problem last year.”
Three people died from EEE last year.
Armstrong says they hope the extra testing will provide data that will help them understand why locations in the Connecticut River Valley became a hot spot for the virus.
He says the mosquito season has started already.
