The county has recorded 16 cases, but mosquito control has been swamped helping to investigate hundreds of potential cases.
Officials said it’s the first time that the county had to add temporary staff, and the extra staff members are needed to go out and do field work, like checking for standing water and placing warning hangers on doorknobs.
The Orange County Mosquito Control lab is busy sorting the latest batch of mosquitoes. The samples are sent to another lab to test for Zika.
“The biggest expense in responding to Zika cases is definitely labor. It's time. It's staff time," Kelly Deutsch, acting manager of Orange County Mosquito Control said.
The county is bringing in 10 full-time, temporary staffers to help its 29 regular employees deal with the virus. Since February, Orange County has investigated 270 potential cases; 15 were confirmed, but all were travel-related.
“Whenever we get notification that somebody's being tested, we treat that as a positive initially until we hear otherwise that it's confirmed negative. So that takes up a lot of time to do those extra neighborhood inspections,” said Deutsch.
Each investigation requires staff to visit the patient's community, check for standing water and educate residents.
“This group of things right here are different control materials that we can use in water to control the mosquito larvae,” said Deutsch.
The county said the biggest hurdle is removing standing water, especially after frequent rain.
“(We) make sure they've got flower pots empty. Clean out your bird bath, its drain and cover,” she said.
The Florida Health Department provided the county with $20,000 to help cover the temporary staff.
Deutsch said the county has sufficient funds, but needs residents to do their part to manage mosquitoes.
The virus has not been detected in the local population.
Half of the temporary staff members have begun work and the rest will begin in the next few weeks.
Cox Media Group
