Hi,
They are only testing Corvids (crows, magpies, jays, ravens,
nutcrackers,etc) because the test is apparently specific to corvids. Why I
do not know. I turned in a Magpie last week and was talking to the guy who
was studying them.
West Nile has been reported in all areas south of Edmonton. It has not been
reported much north of Edmonton basically because nothing has been turned
in - few people - no dead covids that people notice or bother to turn in and
therefore no virus detected.
In Canada they are screening blood donors for the virus during the mosquito
season. Have turned up some. None of them even knew they had had it.
Apparently if a vaccine were to become available tomorrow it would only be
recommended for the elderly and those with other health problems. The small
incidence of complications from the vaccine would be more of a danger to the
general healthy population than getting the virus. This is not SARS, HIV,
smallpox or ebola.
Of course we are going through the motions of doing something - spraying and
draining things as if straying everything in a town could do anything
against our mosquito population which easily blow in from the surrounding
country on our Prairie winds.
Barb Beck
Edmonton
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
|