With Hurricane Hermine dumping up to nine inches of rain in some parts of Georgia, the state Department of Public Health is warning residents to get rid of any standing water near their homes, in light of the Zika virus threat.
Georgia, so far, has been spared an outbreak of the virus through local mosquitoes, but it does have more than 70 cases of people who've contracted Zika through travel. The virus is currently being spread by mosquitoes in the Miami-Dade area of Florida and in at least one case in the Tampa area. On Friday Florida Gov. Rick Scott said he was concerned about the virus gaining a greater foothold in the state's Panhandle region because of standing water left by Hermine.
Those fears should be shared by Georgians, particularly in the southern area of the state, which got the brunt of the storm on Friday.
Georgia public health officials are asking all residents to get rid of as much standing water left by the hurricane as possible. Lawn furniture, toys, truck beds, flower-pot saucers, bird baths, old tires, even bottle caps can hold enough water for mosquitoes to breed.
The two mosquitoes that carry the disease, the Aedes aegypti and the Aedes albopictus, are found in Georgia. The aegypti has been found in municipal mosquito traps around Columbus, but in very small numbers, said Nancy Nydam, a spokesperson for the state public health department wrote in an email on Friday.
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