Council Puts Off Decision on Joining San Gabriel Valley Vector Control District

Citing concern over costs and commitment, members of the Pasadena City Council Monday evening voted to continue a discussion on joining San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District.  The annexation was recommended by the Pasadena Health Department due to the city’s own lack of resources and its inability to properly keep track of mosquito-borne diseases.

The vote to continue was a “substitute” motion by Council member Andy Wilson, who told the Council that he wanted a “cost-benefit analysis,” as well as wanting a comparison between joining the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District and the Los Angeles Vector Control District.

“I am just not comfortable moving forward without more diligence,” Wilson added.

The Los Angeles Vector Control District has already told the Pasadena Health Department it is at capacity and would not be annexing any new areas, according to Michael Johnson, Director of the Pasadena Health Department.

Council member Tyron Hampton seconded Wilson’s motion, which passed 5-2. Council member Gene Masuda also voted in favor of the substitute motion, even though he had moments before, voted to approve the original motion.

Council member Gordo had also questioned the ability of the City to “detach” from the Vector Control District, should they not receive the level of service necessary or find other “cheaper” agencies to work on mosquito abatement.

The Vector Control District annexation would involve a $10-12 yearly tax on residents, but would provide a tenfold increase in resources, according to City Manager Steve Mermell.

“It would be in the best interest of public health to actually engage with an organization that has the full scope and capacity to do a broader service,” Johnson said in a staff report delivered to Council members before the meeting.

The move to continue the motion comes at a time when the Zika problem is rising in the US, with 243 travel-associated cases diagnosed in California, according to the US Center for Disease Control, as of September 21.

Mayor Terry Tornek, who voted against the motion to continue and said he visited Zika-affected areas in Miami, said, “I feel a sense of urgency about this. We need a delivery service that can respond to emergencies.”

In its agenda report to the Council, the Pasadena Health department said it cannot provide the proper training, equipment or supplies to wipe out the necessary amount of adult mosquitoes needed to combat airborne diseases such as Zika and West Nile, nor can they keep track of their breeding patterns.

The Health Department does not currently have even one full-time employee dedicated to working on mosquito abatement.

Though the Zika-carrying mosquito species (aedis albopictus aka Asian Tiger Mosquito and aedis aegypti) has been located in the San Gabriel Valley, and as close as Altadena, they have not as of yet been reported in Pasadena as of July, according to Johnson. The species that has been identified in Altadena is not currently infected by the Zika virus, he told Pasadena Now in a previous interview.

Johnson explained further, “We do have concerns about the type of mosquito that has been identified in the San Gabriel Valley. It is one of those aedis albopictus mosquitos that is a potential carrier of Zika as well as some other mosquito-borne diseases that are a concern.”

“But,” Johnson continued, “we don’t have any evidence that the disease vectors are actually in those mosquito populations. At this point, it’s just the presence of that mosquito that raises our antenna.”

And, according to Dr. Joseph Wakoli Wekesa, scientific program manager at the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District, it’s not unusual for mosquito species to live in a certain area and not necessarily expand to other cities, especially when they are being tracked and monitored.

Explained Wekesa,“Here in San Gabriel for the past five years, we’ve been tracking aedis albopictus, and in these trackings we find that the mosquitoes that set it off were in El Monte. They’ve been there for five years, this is their sixth year so far and we’ve got them now in Monrovia, and Arcadia. They were in only those two cities in 2013, and in 2014 they were in San Gabriel, Monterey Park, La Puente, and the City of Industry.”

“In 2015 they got into Azusa, parts of Glendora, and parts of West Covina and Covina,” Wekesa continued, “They have not reached Walnut, they have not reached San Dimas or La Verne or Claremont, and they’re not in the city of Sierra Madre.”

Pasadena’s Vector Control Program, which was established in the 1980s as a limited-scope program intended to solely stop mosquitos from breeding, is currently funded with $35,000 of public health realignment funds, according to the agenda report.

The Health Dept. claimed the transfer would provide residents of Pasadena maximum protection from mosquito-borne diseases at a limited cost with a capability not available from the city’s current health department program, according to the agenda report.

Kenn Fujioka, District Manager of San Gabriel Valley’s vector control, said that his department keeps up with the protocols required to combat mosquito-borne diseases.

“We [have been applying larvicides] on an ongoing basis for the area that is in our jurisdiction,” Fujioka said.

However, Councilmember Victor Gordo of Pasadena’s 5th District is not entirely convinced the San Gabriel Valley vector program can fully satisfy the needs of Pasadena.

“The important question is whether or not they will provide the level of service that we demand and deserve in Pasadena,” Gordo said.

Though the Zika-carrying mosquito species (aedis albopictus aka Asian Tiger Mosquito and aedis aegypti) have been located in the San Gabriel Valley, and as close as Altadena, they have not as of yet been reported in Pasadena, as of July. In addition, the species that has been identified in Altadena is not currently infected by the Zika virus, according to Michael Johnson, Director of the Pasadena Health Department.

Johnson explained further, “We do have concerns about the type of mosquito that has been identified in the San Gabriel Valley. It is one of those aedis albopictus mosquitos that is a potential carrier of Zika as well as some other mosquito-borne diseases that are a concern.”

“But,” Johnson continued, “we don’t have any evidence that the disease vectors are actually in those mosquito populations. At this point, it’s just the presence of that mosquito that raises our antenna.”

And, according to Dr. Joseph Wakoli Wekesa, scientific program manager at the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District, it’s not unusual for mosquito species to live in a certain area and not necessarily expand to other cities, especially when they are being tracked and monitored.

Explained Wekesa,“Here in San Gabriel for the past five years, we’ve been tracking aedis albopictus, and in these trackings we find that the mosquitoes that set it off were in El Monte. They’ve been there for five years, this is their sixth year so far and we’ve got them now in Monrovia, and Arcadia. They were in only those two cities in 2013, and in 2014 they were in San Gabriel, Monterey Park, La Puente, and the City of Industry.”

“In 2015 they got into Azusa, parts of Glendora, and parts of West Covina and Covina,” Wekesa continued, “They have not reached Walnut, they have not reached San Dimas or La Verne or Claremont, and they’re not in the city of Sierra Madre.”

The council did not specify a date as to when the matter would be taken up again.