Some ways that the government can act now to prevent a possible outbreak:

1- Identifying and treating stagnant water sources

2 - Offering mosquito repellent as a benefit of Medicaid to low-income families

3- Mosquito Fogging

      a. Fogging is effective against West Nile, which has infected over 2,000 Texas residents and KILLED over 100 and is carried by the Culex mosquito.

4- Emptying unnecessary water sources that are breeding grounds, having Mosquito Control investigate backyards to ensure homeowners are properly draining water sources

5 - Allow fogging of residential areas to be tax deductible 

6 - Have all testing for Zika 100% covered by the government for pregnant women when dr requested

7 - Encourage congress to speed the development of a vaccine

8 - Government funded PSA: Remind pool owners that their outdoor pool needs to be treated regularly (every 3-4 days) to inhibit larvae growth.

9- Support funding of genetically modified mosquitos to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which has shown to develop resistance against fogging and carries the Zika virus

----

Zika is an epidemic hitting close to home and posing a gigantic health risk for all women, whether they are pregnant or become pregnant. Many times the Zika virus presents itself as asymptomatic, leaving the woman unaware that she may have a child born with microcephaly in the future.

Women most likely do not know that their child is affected until late in the third trimester. Besides the immediate cost to treat, the lifelong affects of having to care for a child with special needs puts an enormous burden on the family and the child, both emotionally and financially.

We want the City of Austin to fund the measures above in an effort to be proactive against a possible outbreak in Austin. The fogging requested is a, plant based mosquito fogging derived from organic compounds, which to date is the best option for fogging.

The city of Austin needs to be more proactive about killing larvae, ensuring that stagnant water is promptly drained or treated to avoid hatching.

We are calling upon the City of Austin to help protect it's citizens and future residents from this horrible virus. The City of Austin also needs to step up responsibility and begin safely treating water sources as soon as possible to begin killing the larvae to drastically bring the mosquito population down before the virus has a chance to grow and spread in our hometowns.

*How does fogging work? Fogging does not kill larvae (the eggs). This is why it's so important to do continual fogging, especially in known breeding growns. This kills the eggs once they hatch and (hopefully) before they have the chance to begin spreading disease.

By reducing our mosquito population as a whole over time, we will see that the chances of Zika spreading locally is also reduced.

We need to be proactive about mosquito control.