[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:00] Dumping oil, painting materials, or household cleaners into the gutter, or down the storm drain, is the same as dumping them directly into a room.
[0:14] We invite you into our discussions today, unite our hearts and guide our conversations with wisdom and patience.
[0:21] Help us to seek solutions that honor you and benefit everyone involved in your name, Amen.
[0:27] Mr.
[0:35] Chair, I would like for which it stands the remission under God in indisputable with liberty and justice for all.
[0:43] Madam Clerk, please solve the roll.
[0:46] District one, Commissioner Oakley.
[0:48] Here.
[0:48] District two, Commissioner Wakeman.
[0:50] Present.
[0:50] District three, Commissioner Sarkey.
[0:52] District four, Commissioner Yeager.
[0:54] Here.
[0:55] District five, Chairman Mariana.
[0:56] Excuse me.
[0:59] We have Quarrel, first time up for discussion from the Department of Health.
[1:06] Thank you Mr. Chair, before I bring up, Department of Health I'd like to ask emergency management director Andy Fawcett to come up and give us a quick overview of what the situation.
[1:17] Welcome Mr. Fawcett.
[1:18] Thank you sir, Andy Fawcett, emergency management director for Pasco County.
[1:21] Basically, I'm just going to brief you guys that since last week, we've been on our local
[1:26] state of emergency, Paso County Emergency Management has moved to a modified level 2, which
[1:33] that means is we're staffing our EOC and support with mosquito control in the Department
[1:39] of Health.
[1:40] As of right now, we've had no resource requests come in for assistance, but we are working
[1:45] with our internal departments, with solid waste, we're going to try a tire removal
[1:52] and some items like that. Other than that, we've been pretty well off so far.
[1:58] We're very lucky, we're in a preventive stage. We're not reactive, so we're very fortunate at this time.
[2:05] So with that being said, I'd like to call Train and Adrian up.
[2:10] They have a small presentation for you guys. And if you have any questions for me, please, by homing, let me know.
[2:14] Yeah, good questions from Ms. Fossa.
[2:19] Thanks, sir.
[2:28] Hi.
[2:28] Good afternoon, commissioners.
[2:30] Thank you for calling the meeting today.
[2:34] And I appreciate your support.
[2:35] I'm trying to become the Health Officer for Department of Health in Pasco County.
[2:39] Good morning.
[2:41] Good afternoon.
[2:42] Sorry.
[2:42] We have been very busy.
[2:43] My name is Adrienne Rogers.
[2:44] I'm the executive director of the Pasco County mosquito control district.
[2:48] And so we just want to give you a brief overview.
[2:51] So, dengue is a common miskylborn illness.
[2:56] We typically work on cases of dengue each year.
[3:00] dengue happens usually in tropical regions.
[3:03] It's endemic in over a hundred countries around the world.
[3:08] So essentially there are a million cases,
[3:10] a million cases around the world each year.
[3:14] Typically there are four cases of dengue.
[3:17] what we're looking at today is specifically dengue 2 in our region and while
[3:24] most cases present like flu-like symptoms there are cases a small account
[3:31] amount of cases that could become severe.
[3:35] So when we're taking a look at
[3:37] transmission cycle it's important to note that in order to transmit dengue from
[3:42] one person it does not transmit from one person to another. So if somebody's sick
[3:47] they can't get it to another individual. It is a mosquito infection, so essentially an individual
[3:55] has to, that is presenting symptoms, if a mosquito bites them, then that, that mosquito now becomes
[4:01] infected and then can infect others. So it's not a person-to-person, rather a mosquito-to-person.
[4:09] And typically, again, typically we have cases that we deal with every year,
[4:15] Department of Health and its travel related, but what we're looking at and what we're
[4:19] really focused on is the local cases that's happening right now in our county and the region.
[4:27] So give it over to Adrian to talk a little bit about the mosquito.
[4:32] Good. Thank you, Ms. Chitacom.
[4:35] Primary mosquito that is responsible for transmitting, again,
[4:37] thank you, virus, is 80s of chip die. This mosquito species is exceptionally well adapted
[4:43] it to living around people. It does not require a lake or a pond or a large body of water.
[4:49] It can develop in flower pots, in people's vacuars, in buckets, in children's toys that are
[4:55] left out to collect rainwater, in your pet's dishes, clogged rain gutters, pool covers,
[5:00] anything that can hold a very small, relatively small amount of water, something as small as
[5:05] this bottle cap is big enough to produce hundreds of 80s-gip-time mosquitoes. This mosquito
[5:12] So the production sites where they are found are distributed throughout all of our developed
[5:18] communities in the greater Tampa Bay region.
[5:20] This means that the appropriate mosquito control measures are required and it is an extremely
[5:26] labor intensive response.
[5:28] When we learn about the person that is under investigation for dengue, we don't simply put
[5:34] that address on a spray list.
[5:36] We're looking at a variety of different things.
[5:38] we're looking at the surrounding area, we're looking at the mosquito surveillance data that's
[5:42] coming in. We need to identify where mosquitoes are being produced. We need to perform source
[5:47] reduction, so physically going around and dumping out water holding containers in people's yards.
[5:52] We need larval treatment, attacking mosquitoes in the immature life stage. We need adult mosquito
[5:56] control. Then we need to come back and determine whether or not those interventions are working.
[6:01] Then we need to do this repeatedly. That takes time, that takes people, that takes license,
[6:05] since the mosquito control program for professionals.
[6:07] It takes equipment, product, and, again, repeated efforts.
[6:12] So, the,
[6:17] I'll let Ms. Chidicone talk about
[6:19] the incubation period for mosquitoes and humans.
[6:23] So, earlier I was saying when an individual
[6:26] is bitten by an infected mosquito,
[6:29] it takes typically anywhere from three to two weeks
[6:32] in order for someone to have symptoms.
[6:36] and really the symptoms start off with high fever, body aches, dengue has a nickname,
[6:44] break bone fever, and so there's body aches, severe muscle pain, joint pain. Now this is in a
[6:53] small percentage that individuals get symptoms. There is no cure, it's essentially just rest,
[6:59] high-grade, seek medical attention if the symptoms get worse, so really just
[7:03] waiting it out.
[7:07] However, one thing I do want to point out and point it out
[7:10] before is that out of one out of four individuals that are infected, really 75%
[7:18] never show any symptoms. So 75, 60 to 80% never show any symptoms and the 20 to 40%
[7:25] do show symptoms. Out of those individuals, they may present very mild symptoms. So fever, much
[7:32] like the flu, fever, body aches, and they may never get tested. So with dengue, majority of
[7:41] individuals do get the milder symptoms. There is a small percentage, less 5% or less, that do have
[7:47] severe dengue. Those are individuals that are at high risk. So individuals that may have had dengue
[7:53] before that may not know it and then get dengue again. Individuals that are
[7:59] infants just because if they're a community and they're you know how small they
[8:03] are. Individuals that are 65 in order underlying conditions in pregnant
[8:08] women. Those individuals are at higher risk of having severe dengue and the
[8:14] The survival rate is actually pretty high, 99 to 99.5%, however there is a small percentage
[8:24] that it could become fatal.
[8:29] So really what we're looking at locally here is the increase in cases that we're seeing
[8:39] in the Tampa Bay region.
[8:41] And this is the highest number of cases that we've seen in decades, local cases in decades
[8:47] in our region, and it is essential that we take preventative measures now, so that
[8:53] we are reducing the mosquito population, we're getting awareness out there.
[8:58] Some of the things that we can do when we've been pushing this message out with your help
[9:01] and your team's help and our partnerships here, making sure that we're draining, covering,
[9:06] protecting individuals with mosquito repellent, making sure that repellent that you're using
[9:12] is EPA approved. And if you're using repellent on children, making sure that is appropriate
[9:18] for small and young children. And Adrienne can talk a little bit more about other preventatives.
[9:26] Thank you. Mosquito control cannot do this alone. We have a call to action for everyone
[9:34] of our residents and everyone in this room. We, at mosquito control, we can treat thousands of acres,
[9:39] we can fly out helicopters, we can operate our trucks in neighborhoods, we can conduct surveillance,
[9:44] but we cannot control every water holding container around every private property in Pasco County.
[9:51] Every homeowner, every landlord, every business owner, every property manager has a role to play in
[9:56] dengue response here and in the greater Tampa Bay area. And I'm asking people to walk their
[10:01] properties, not just once, but repeatedly. Every few days, dump out water, drain it, remove it,
[10:07] turn it over, cover it, find it incapable of holding water. Look around your homes and businesses
[10:12] after rainfall, look under tarps, look under sheds, look at those flower pots and all of those things,
[10:18] receptacles in your area that can hold water and protect yourself from mosquito exposure.
[10:23] And this is not just something that we want you to do during the nighttime. Traditional mosquito
[10:27] control wisdom is to protect yourself around the times when mosquitoes are most active
[10:31] or when dawn and dusk. This mosquito is very capable and very aggressive to be biting
[10:36] during the day time. So right in the heat of the day, we're also asking you to take these
[10:40] preventative measures. This is one of the most important things that our community can do
[10:44] to reduce the number of mosquitoes that are capable of transmitting dengue.
[10:49] We also need to recognize that mosquitoes and more importantly for this specific mosquito
[10:55] or species, don't observe county boundaries.
[10:59] People don't observe county boundaries.
[11:01] And what happens in Hillsborough County affects Passo County.
[11:04] What happens in Passo County affects Pinellas County.
[11:06] We are all very interconnected.
[11:07] We have thousands of people traveling
[11:09] between our region into different counties every single day
[11:12] for work, for recreation, for school,
[11:15] for healthcare, for business.
[11:17] And that's why I believe that the actions
[11:19] that the board, Passo County Board of County commissioners
[11:22] took last week were very important.
[11:23] and the board did act proactively, as Director Fosse said.
[11:27] This is bigger than anyone agency,
[11:29] this is bigger than anyone,
[11:30] mosquito control district or anyone county,
[11:32] and this is not routine mosquito control response,
[11:36] or responding in a regional capacity,
[11:39] and that's really what the situation requires.
[11:41] At this time, we just still have a small number
[11:45] of confirmed cases, but we do continue to work very closely
[11:49] with our partners in health and coordinating
[11:50] our surveillance and control efforts,
[11:52] And since this began, six weeks ago, the BASCO kind of mosquito control has substantially
[12:00] increased our surveillance and control activities.
[12:03] We've increased the mosquito surveillance, our testing capabilities, our evaluation
[12:06] of AIDS, EgyptI populations, and the different habitats that they're found in.
[12:11] We've expanded our larval control efforts targeting mosquitoes in the immature life stage, really
[12:15] helping to disrupt life cycle, as well as the dying aid transmission cycle, conducting
[12:19] wide area, liquid larbside applications by ground and by air, we've increased our targeted
[12:25] adult mosquito control measures and continued proper level response. For the last four weeks,
[12:30] in addition to what we're doing here in Pasco County, we've also been responding at a regional
[12:35] response level, including providing specialized aerial larval capabilities to assist the Hillsboro
[12:41] County response. Our treatment decisions are not based on whether or not someone is asking us to spray,
[12:48] We're basing those decisions on where the mosquitoes are, where they are being produced,
[12:53] where the potential disease activity is occurring, whether the surveillance data is telling
[12:58] us and what treatment method is appropriate for this mosquito in particularly and at specific
[13:03] locations.
[13:04] We're using an integrated mosquito management approach.
[13:06] There is not one single method to controlling this problem.
[13:11] And the local declaration gives PASCO the ability to move very quickly and help to coordinate
[13:17] response during this outbreak situation.
[13:22] But our needs are growing faster than the path to account of mosquito control districts
[13:26] existing resources.
[13:27] We're currently working with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services,
[13:30] as well as other state partners in here locally to identify additional personnel, equipment,
[13:38] aircraft capability, mosquito control products, surveillance resources, and operational funding
[13:44] that might be necessary for us to sustain and expand this level of response.
[13:49] One of our most immediate needs is additional personnel for performing what we call domestic
[13:54] sweeps and physically going into communities, into person teams and into neighborhoods
[14:00] and areas of concern, looking to identify and eliminate water holding containers in people's
[14:05] yards, educating residents and documenting properties that require additional treatment
[14:10] and flagging those locations for follow up mosquito control applications with our license and train personnel we've also made a very clear to our partners at the Florida Department of Agriculture and consumer services that this response is reaching a level where additional state level coordination and resources are most definitely needed and we've been working closely with them over the last 48 hours to identify specific needs not just for here in Pasco County, but through the tri-county area as well.
[14:39] Our goal is to make sure that we have resources necessary to match the scale and the intensity
[14:44] of the response and the epidemiological and entomological situation that it is demanding.
[14:52] So again, in summation here, I'd like to leave you all with three things.
[14:56] Passive counter-missile control district has been...
[15:00] Very actively responding to the dengue situation as it's been developing over the last six weeks here and in the greater Tampa Bay area. This is a regional public health concern. And we cannot, Pasco cannot address this situation in isolation. We need to be working with our regional partners as well as the state partners. And lastly, every resident has a role to play in this response. So you certainly are calling everyone to action to try to help us in this effort.
[15:31] Yeah, one more thing. So just to give you the current status right now, the numbers that came out as of last week in our Tampa Bay region. Hillsboro is at 170 cases.
[15:43] analysis at seven, Pasco is currently at two, with multiple, all three counties have
[15:50] multiple preliminary positive results. And since the local state of emergency has been
[15:56] issued, a lot of health care providers are now testing for dengue, which has greatly
[16:01] increased our response efforts in trying to weed through those. So there's a lot of education
[16:07] that we're doing with health care providers on that forefront.
[16:09] And some key takeaways from health side is, again, this is the largest outbreak that
[16:16] we've seen in decades related to local mosquito-borne illness within our region.
[16:22] The trending numbers that we're seeing is essentially going to put us out according
[16:29] to state office in response to this a couple of months.
[16:33] It's at least until November, early December, that our response effort is going to take
[16:39] to get this really under control and wanting to recycle back to the asymptomatic folks.
[16:49] While asymptomatic individuals may not present illness right now, the concern is if a new strain
[16:56] out of those four types gets introduced into our community in the future,
[17:01] that could be problematic for individuals from the health side.
[17:05] So, current things that we are doing, we are working with mosquito control to do door-to-door,
[17:12] we're trying to increase that education there.
[17:15] We're increasing education with health care providers, ensuring that we're having that
[17:21] instant communication and reminding folks that they need to report those cases to us so that
[17:29] we can proactively take the steps that we need to and that is and I appreciate you guys taking a
[17:38] look at this local state and emergency and helping us through this so appreciate you all listening
[17:44] to us today. Thank you, Ms. Heckley. Yes, sir. And this may be a question, not necessarily for y'all,
[17:51] but for Mr. Foss, but the fact that it is tires of one of the sources that we've had water
[17:58] get you into and in the rural area people always they take the tire off it's
[18:04] no good it's blown out they throw it under a tree or put it away would it be a
[18:11] help to us if we allowed those car tires and tires that are coming to the
[18:17] waste waste management services if it would be good to let that come in free for
[18:24] for a certain period of time.
[18:26] So I'm bringing Kevin Poliska up here.
[18:28] He'll answer that question.
[18:30] We are doing a, we are gonna be doing a program like that.
[18:33] Right.
[18:33] But he has the particular.
[18:35] Okay.
[18:35] Thank you.
[18:37] Good afternoon.
[18:38] Kevin Poliska, Solid Waste Director.
[18:40] Yes, working with Andy and the team.
[18:42] We are doing more of an amnesty where people can bring more
[18:46] tires to our locations.
[18:48] Expanding tire drop off areas as well.
[18:52] That's at a minimum.
[18:53] That's what we're committing to do right now, but but you are absolutely correct. So you know
[18:58] We see a lot of that when we do community clean-ups. We get a lot of tires in
[19:03] By making this amnesty and more of them can come in without charge. Hopefully we see more of that. Yeah
[19:09] Okay, thank you
[19:11] I'm sure you have anything
[19:13] No, I just wanted to give a shout out. Thank you to
[19:16] trying in her crew, the Department of Health was out Thursday in Moon Lake and
[19:22] they were educating our citizens and giving and giving bugs for you out and the
[19:28] little doughnuts and I believe we had like 216 people there so they really
[19:34] appreciate the education and you guys coming out so thank you.
[19:40] In terms of the duration of this emergency he mentioned
[19:46] November or December? Is that because the temperature drops at that point? And then the mosquitoes
[19:51] die? What's the reason for what's magical about November or December that this would end?
[19:58] I appreciate the question. So we have 80s of dip populations year round here in Central Florida.
[20:05] For an example, two years ago, we had a locally acquired dengue case in January. So while temperatures
[20:11] factors do absolutely influence mosquito production.
[20:15] It's also rainfall that influences mosquito production as well, and the decrease in both
[20:22] of those two things slows down what we're seeing in terms of overall mosquito abundance,
[20:28] but they don't just die off for the winter in our region.
[20:32] We will have them through the winter months, but we typically see a seasonal decrease in
[20:37] their populations around December to January and January because those are colder and more
[20:44] dry months. But the possibility and the very real risk of transmission to continue beyond that
[20:50] point is still a very real possibility. So while the CDC is estimating that, we might see it sort
[20:56] of die down around that time. That doesn't mean that it's going to be completely solved by them,
[21:04] and that's just really an estimation.
[21:06] So what we're doing now is everything we can to try
[21:09] to keep mosquito populations low here in Pasco County,
[21:12] our regional partners are doing the same
[21:14] in their own respective areas.
[21:16] But what happens in Hillsboro and Pinellas affects us here
[21:20] because of the interconnectiness of our communities.
[21:23] And so the best thing that we can all collectively do
[21:26] is get mosquito populations to a very low level
[21:29] to remove or reduce the potential
[21:32] for continued disease transmission.
[21:35] Thank you.
[21:39] Any further questions?
[21:41] I have a couple of questions.
[21:43] So the asymptomatic folks, if they happen to be bit a second time, is there an increase
[21:53] that they will see symptoms or will they stay asymptomatic?
[21:57] So, if an individual is infected with dengue first and they're asymptomatic, depending on what type they have, if there is a new type that's introduced, that is where it becomes problematic and severe.
[22:13] So then the asymptomatic folks could potentially show symptoms with the second time around?
[22:20] Yes.
[22:20] The more developed strain.
[22:23] There's four strains at this time, and it just depends on what region it's coming from.
[22:30] But essentially, if an individual is infected again, that is become serious for that individual.
[22:37] So right now we've got tons of people probably asymptomatic and the problem becomes maybe a year, maybe two years down the road, if there's a new strain that gets introduced into our community, that's where it becomes a problem.
[22:52] Thank you.
[22:53] Next question from Ms. Rogers.
[22:58] As far as your boots on the ground, folks, how many people are you needing and or could
[23:07] volunteers from the different environmental groups, the road clean up crews, would they
[23:13] be able to potentially help with the labor intensive side, the door-to-door campaign, all of
[23:21] the work that goes into that part of the process.
[23:26] Yes, so right now with the number of cases
[23:29] that we are actively working that are coming
[23:31] from the Department of Health,
[23:33] as Ms. Chidicone mentioned,
[23:34] there, while we have three that are confirmed,
[23:37] we do have additional cases that we're investigating,
[23:41] so we're responding to each one of these suspected cases
[23:44] at this point.
[23:45] And as those numbers continue to increase,
[23:48] we need more staff.
[23:51] training has committed a number of her team were at our facility yesterday to get some
[23:56] training on how to do this. So it's a very easy thing that we can ramp up. We could potentially
[24:00] use volunteers from some of the organizations that you mentioned. But if we had a pool
[24:05] of 30 individuals that could be deployed as needed, but surely they're not going to be able
[24:11] to commit every day of the week to be able to do this response, that would be a sufficient
[24:16] level at this time. Certainly if we see things dramatically increase like what's happening in Hillsboro,
[24:22] we may need to revisit that number, but if we could get close to about 30 individuals to work in
[24:28] these two person teams, that would be very helpful to assist in our efforts in responding to the case
[24:33] load currently. Very good. The so we have El Nino coming right, so it's going to be a warmer
[24:44] winter, wetter, winter," said that fluidly. Are you all anticipated anticipating that
[24:55] that will help, that that will increase the duration of the problem or will it literally
[25:01] potentially drown out some of these challenges? Or is there any data behind that?
[25:08] Unfortunately, the thought that it will drown them out is not really something that we're
[25:13] we're looking at right now. Mosquitoes require warm temperatures and rainfall. So the more mild
[25:21] our winter is, the more rainfall we get throughout the winter, the more mosquito populations are
[25:26] going to remain at a higher level until it's drier where the mosquitoes are then going to be able
[25:32] to see a seasonal reduction. So unfortunately, if we do get more rain and higher temperatures throughout
[25:40] of the winter months, we could potentially
[25:42] have mosquito populations high enough
[25:44] where disease potential is still very real.
[25:47] Thank you.
[25:49] And to Commissioner Oli's point on tires,
[25:52] do we have a start date on when the county
[25:53] will be accepting, potentially accepting
[25:56] a derelict tires in our county?
[26:00] That should be going out sometime later on this afternoon
[26:02] according to Solid Waste.
[26:04] Okay.
[26:05] County turn.
[26:06] Are the cases in Hillsborough spread out throughout the entire county or are there portions of Hillsborough County that are seeing more activity than others and I guess the follow-up to that are there portions of Hillsborough County that our residents should avoid going into because of this epidemic.
[26:26] There are cases in Hillsborough County that are widespread throughout the county.
[26:32] There is a large area of the city center that has a number of cases as well as positive
[26:42] mosquito pools, but it's not restricted to that general area of this around the city
[26:48] of Tampa.
[26:49] So it is bigger than just the city boundaries itself.
[26:52] It is quite widespread at this point, and so we are very strongly encouraging anyone
[26:59] spending out time outside in Hillsborough County. But also here in Pasco, in this entire
[27:04] greater Tampa Bay area, please take the necessary precautions and protect yourself from mosquito
[27:09] exposure. Use a U.S. EPA-approved insect repellent, something containing deit or pecaretin as the
[27:16] active ingredient. Those are going to provide a really good protection for exposed skin.
[27:19] And we're long loose fitting, long sleeve shirts, long pants, shoes and socks.
[27:25] Again, this mosquito is very active during the day.
[27:28] So even in the heat of the day, you're going to want to take these necessary precautions
[27:31] to protect yourself from mosquito exposure.
[27:36] Any further questions from the board?
[27:39] Got any administrator?
[27:40] No, no questions.
[27:41] But I guess I would just say that the next item on our agenda here, Mr. Chair, is to ratify
[27:48] the decision that we made that you signed last week on the local state of emergency, so we'd like the board to ratify, ratify that decision and extend the local state of emergency number seven, another seven days.
[28:01] Future extensions would be done in accordance with the rules outlined in that LLC, typically that's deferred to the county administrator who all work with emergency management to run it as long as we need to to maintain the fight that needs to go on here.
[28:15] So I would just ask the clerk to read that by title if that would be possible and that the board vote on that if that's the pleasure of the board item number two Madam clerk resolution number 26-407 a resolution by the board of county commissioners of Pasco County, Florida declaring a state of local emergency related to mosquito-borne illness known as dengue then in result is 23rd day of September, 2026.
[28:40] Move approval.
[28:41] Move motion.
[28:43] Second.
[28:44] Second.
[28:44] Second.
[28:45] Second.
[28:45] All in favor say aye.
[28:46] Aye.
[28:47] Any opposed?
[28:48] Don't see any.
[28:49] Thank you very much.
[28:50] Item passes.
[28:53] Thank you both.
[28:55] It's very much for all of your work and your thrownness and the due diligence that you have
[29:00] done and the proactive measures that you've taken to help educate on just this board but the
[29:07] public and the county team on what all we need to do to
[29:10] detect our citizenry and out to combat miskidas and recognize Commissioner
[29:18] Evans and the mosquito control district and Commissioner Cox thank you both for being here
[29:22] for your leadership through this interesting challenge in our region truly a team effort
[29:31] across all jurisdictions and we can't thank you all enough for your communication
[29:36] and your forwardness and thoroughness and boxing these bugs.
[29:42] So there's no further questions we will adjourn the meeting.
[29:47] Thank you.
[29:48] All right, thank you.
[29:49] It's meetings adjourned.
[29:50] Let's see if this one works.