Massachusetts will start mosquito spraying due to EEE outbreak: Which communities are in the spray zone?

The Bay State plans to start spraying for mosquitoes in more than a dozen communities on Tuesday, as the region faces an outbreak from the rare but serious EEE virus. Aerial and truck-mounted ground spraying for mosquitoes will begin on Tuesday evening, according to the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and Department of Public Health. This comes after the state announced this year’s first human case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus infection , a man in his 80s who was exposed to EEE in Worcester County.

During the last EEE outbreak in Massachusetts a few years ago, there were 17 human cases and seven deaths. The ability to spray is weather dependent, but the plan is for aerial spraying to start on Tuesday evening in parts of Plymouth County along with truck spraying in southern Worcester County. The aerial spraying will take place in: Carver, Halifax, Kingston, Middleboro, Plymouth, Plympton, Rochester, and Wareham.

The truck-mounted ground spraying will take place in: Douglas, Dudley, Oxford, Sutton, and Uxbridge. For both aerial and truck-mounted applications, spraying begins at dusk and continues until about 4:30 a.m.

the next day. “Aerial spraying is planned to begin Tuesday evening, with the possibility of additional spraying another evening,” officials said in a statement. “Truck-mounted spraying will begin Tuesday evening and continue for additional days.

Due to upcoming variable weather patterns, the timeline is subject to change. “If p.