State of emergency declared in Elkhart County to combat EEE virus

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind.-- State of Emergency.

Elkhart County has officially made that designation and is now joining the growing list of places conducting aerial spraying aimed at killing mosquitoes. 

“We’re losing the ground war, we really need to get this population down," said Elkhart County Commissioner, Mike Yoder.

To help in the fight against EEE, a virus transmitted through mosquito bites, Tuesday morning, county officials met to make the declaration.

“We had three suspected at Elkhart Hospital. 2 of those cases has come back negative.”

According to Elkhart County Commissioners, across the country, there's typically about 7 horse deaths by EEE. 

So far this year, that number is up to 28 in the U.S.

In Indiana, there have been 11 horse and 8 of them occurred in Elkhart County.

“We happen to have a lot of areas that breed this particular breed of mosquitos so that’s where we’re targeting right now," said Yoder,

Pilots will be spreading an insecticide called Dybrom in the highlighted areas within the county in two designated areas.

Pilots will be flying between 200 to 300 feet in the air. 

The insecticide is supposed to kill up to 90% of mosquitos. 

Take a look—we’re at about 2-300 feet in the air—this is how high pilot’s will be flying to in order to get rid of at least 90 percent of the mosquito population.

“Oh I think its great, they need to do something. Im really pleased they’re doing it," said Elkhart County Resident, Nicole Barrow.

“I don’t want anything to happen to my pets, but I also don’t want anything to happen to my kids so I say go for it." said Elkhart County Resident, Nicole Barrow.

“We want to be sure that people do not become a little over-confident or we pass along this sense that evertying is safe now because its not. It’s our hope in declaring the emergency that it conveys to the public that we are still in a very serious position at this point," said Yoder.

Weather permitting, the planes will take off Wednesday night at dusk to spray the insecticide. 

If weather is not ideal, officials will administer the the chemicals Thursday, October 3rd.