BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The city of Bakersfield is taking action to combat a growing number of mosquitos. City crews are planning to spray in Southwest to get ahead of it.
Tim Sullivan rides on the bike trail every day and says he has noticed an uptick in mosquitos near the path. Sullivan shares that it has gotten worse over the past month.
"I think it's great that they are going to spray and get rid of those mosquitos," said Sullivan. "I think they should have done that a month ago."
The city of Bakersfield announced Friday that crews plan to spray from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and will close the bike path near the corner of Allen Road and Enos Lane.
During that time they will conduct a necessary spray that will be administered by a crop duster.
"On Friday we have about 600 acres to be treated for mosquito larva," said Gene Abbott, district manager Kern Mosquito & Vector Control.
"Typically why we shut down the bike trail is just for safety in case there is issues with the plane and it has to emergency land or something."
Abbott says the product is not harmful and adds that this is the third time they have had to spray this summer and want to keep the mosquitos from overpopulating.
"It is a concern now because these mosquitos are not native they are invasive and if we get the right conditions we could be fighting a lot of other mosquito-borne diseases," said Abbott.
Just last week, officials said the total number of human West Nile Virus cases are up to three for 2019. The first human case of the virus was reported in Kern County was on August 23.
The bike trail is expected to reopen at 9 a.m. on Friday.
