A coastal town in Massachusetts is shutting its parks, playgrounds, and fields from dusk to dawn due to concerns about the mosquito-borne virus Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE).
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00:00Eastern equine encephalitis, its short term is EEE, is a virus infection carried by mosquitoes
00:09that can cause, very rarely causes disease in humans. And when it does cause an infection,
00:17is very, very severe. Although it's a very rare infection, we have no treatment for it
00:24to do this. And if once someone gets it, it's just all we can do is provide supportive care
00:29and it can kill people. Well, this is a virus which is present in the environment in
00:38southern New England. So there are cases in Massachusetts, cases in Rhode Island,
00:44cases in Connecticut. Tends to be areas that where there were a certain kind of mosquito lives,
00:51that tends to be areas that used to be swampland that's been converted and less swampy now,
00:56but the mosquitoes still find good habitat. We don't see EEE activity every year in
01:02Massachusetts. It tends to occur in outbreak cycles. Our last outbreak cycle was 2019 through
01:082020. And what we have seen over sort of the last, you know, 10, 12 years is that we're starting to
01:19see increases of EEE activity outside of the historic hotspot. And we're concerned that that's
01:28due to a couple of factors, including some of the climate change, likely climate change effects,
01:36like a warming temperature, changes in migratory bird patterns, and changes in precipitation
01:44activity as well. So we work very hard to make sure people are aware of where and when EEE is
01:51happening and make sure they understand the steps that they can take to help protect themselves,
01:57including using a mosquito repellent anytime they're outside. When it's not super hot,
02:03you can use clothing to reduce exposed skin. And then in areas where EEE risk is very elevated,
02:11so not the entire state, but parts of the state, we make a recommendation that people
02:17avoid outdoor activity between the hours of dusk and dawn.