Are You Seeing More Mosquitoes In Massachusetts This Year?

When hosting "Live On The Lake" about a month ago, I was bit by what felt like ten mosquitoes within the first ten minutes! Now, on the shore of Onota Lake where we have the concert series, it can get very swampy, but this was crazy. It wasn't even dusk and there were mosquitoes everywhere.

Pittsfield began spraying for mosquitoes back in 2010, but spraying has been inconsistent over the last decade. Back in April, the City Council voted against it for 2021, according to iberkshires.com.

Combine the decision not to spray this year and the heavy July rain and what do ya get? MOSQUITOES.

"When there's a lot of rain, there's lots of mosquito habitat," said Professor Stephen Rich, who studies diseases transmitted by mosquitoes.

"I think it's important to know there are concerns about them," said Rich. "But there are personal protections you can take, and the risk of severe illness is still relatively small." -nbcboston.com

Besides the itchy bump that mosquitoes can leave on you, they can carry viruses such as West Nile or Triple E (eastern equine encephalitis). Even though Pittsfield has opted out of the spray this year, the state can overrule and spray if there is an uptick of virus cases.

According to berkshiremosquito.org, The Berkshires remains a low risk for Triple E.

Just yesterday, my friend Katie shared to her Facebook page the following post.

SO WE WANNA KNOW...