Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger came to Bakersfield to put dollars and attention on the problem of West Nile Virus. The Governor signed a West Nile Virus "State of Emergency" declaration for Kern and two other counties.
This summer, Kern County has seen 38 cases of West Nile and two of those victims died from the illness. Kern County is a hot spot for the virus, and West Nile is a political hot button. State Senator Dean Florez is also calling for more state action.
The governor came to the Kern Mosquito Control District to look at efforts to control the spread of the virus -- and to sign the emergency declaration.
"My executive order here will direct the State Department of Public Health to allocate up to $1.5 million dollars to help local agencies throughout California to fight the mosquitoes that spread the deadly virus," said Schwarzenegger.
He says the number of infections is up three-fold this year in California. State Senator Dean Florez agrees with that statistic -- but he wants a lot more money to deal with all those cases. He hopes the governor will see that.
'If he spends the time to talk to real people, he'll recognize that $48-million ultimately solves the problem from our vantage point," says Florez (D-Shafter)
Florez says he asked the governor to put more state emergency funds into the West Nile problem, but the Governor says his action comes in response to a specific request from the Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California.
Kern Mosquito Control District Manager Rob Quiring says he's not sure how much of the new state money might come to Kern. But he says one thing they'll do with the funds is take aim at standing swimming pool water at vacant homes.
"We have an aerial company that takes photographs, and we're going to take more photos of pools -- and having this money will help us," Quiring told Eyewitness News.
He says the district responded to 150 calls like this last month. The high number of home foreclosures has led to the problem -- and may be a factor in the increased number of West Nile cases.
Mosquitoes infected with West Nile can spread the virus to people. Many victims have no symptoms -- but in some cases the illness can be very serious and even fatal. The emergency declaration covers Kern, Colusa and San Joaquin Counties.
The Kern district says additional state money could be used to hire more crews. The district does ground-spraying and testing to help control the number of mosquitoes.
Planes now also spray large areas of standing water in rural areas. But, the additional state money might be used for aerial spraying over city areas. Kern Mosquito District Superintendent Gene Abbott says that would be considered -- if it's needed.
"We look at the minimum infection rate in our mosquitoes," Abbott told Eyewitness News. "In the last month these were coming down. If they start going up again -- we certainly will look into doing aerial treatment."
Eyewitness News asked the governor if the state has not done enough so far to deal with West Nile. "I think what we're doing is we see the increase (in cases) -- we want to go and start really working together -- the state, also health experts in this and the health department," said Schwarzenegger.
State Senator Dean Florez is convinced it'll take $48-million in state funds to really get ahead of the West Nile problem. "The $48-million we believe ultimately makes it so that in the next four or five years we'll be able to eradicate and not worry about this for about a six-year period," says Florez.
But, the governor believes in his pledge of up to $1-5 million. "It doesn't make sense to just pick an arbitrary number," said Schwarzenegger. "The important thing is that we go and work together -- the counties, the state -- in order to get the job done and get rid of the virus."
Story Created: Aug 2, 2007 at 8:44 PM CDT
Story Updated: Aug 2, 2007 at 8:47 PM CDT
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