After hurricane Nicole, you may notice more mosquito larvae in water. That’s because Immediately following a storm there’s plenty of water sticking around. Mosquito eggs laid in the soil during previous floods can hatch and result in very large populations. Collier County started distributing free mosquito traps to residents Monday. Collier is encouraging all residents to call in advance to check availability. In Immokalee, you can pick up the mosquito traps at the City of Naples Fire Rescue in Collier and at the Florida Department of Health and The University of Florida's Immokalee campus. To find more sites, visit the Florida Department of health website.
New COVID-19 infections in Florida are on the rise, but few of these cases are severe. According to data from the CDC, the caseload in Florida grew by more than 12,000 last week. The Palm Beach Post reports, new subvariants with names like BQ.1,now make up most new infections throughout the southeastern U.S. The most recent coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are designed to fight the BA.5 subvariant, which more closely resembles the latest omicron strains compared to the original vaccines that were designed to combat the original COVID strain. Still just 10% of eligible people in the U.S. have received the updated vaccine. The coronavirus has killed more than 82,500 people in Florida since the start of the pandemic. Nationwide, more than one million people have died.