WARREN (WWJ) – West Nile is dangerous but one local mayor says Yellow Fever is worse, and he’s getting ready for a possible outbreak.
Warren Mayor Jim Fouts isn’t taking any chances. He’s cautioning residents to look out for mosquitoes like their lives depend on it.
“I’m worried about Zika, I’m worried about West Nile, I’m worried about Chikungunya and I think we have to begin to look at the potential for Yellow Fever sweeping the United States within the next year or two,” Fouts told WWJ’s Charlie Langton. “Yellow Fever is even more serious — 20 to 50 percent of the people who contract Yellow Fever die.”
Fouts was quick to point out that nobody in Warren currently has Yellow Fever, but he wants to be ready if an outbreak does happen
“Many years ago when I was on the city council, we didn’t have West Nile and then we got it,” he said. “And if you remember, Warren was one of the top cities in Michigan to have several fatalities from West Nile.”
So, the city is taking a proactive approach, Fouts said, issuing tickets to those who could be harboring the disease-spreading mosquitoes on their properties.
“We have zero tolerance for anyone with a swimming pool or large water area with standing water. We are going to issue major ticket violations,” he said. “We are going to treat this as a potential epidemic.”
According to the Michigan Department of Health, Yellow Fever is a serious mosquito-borne disease that causes fever and flu-like symptoms, jaundice (yellow skin or eyes), bleeding from multiple body sites, and liver, kidney, respiratory and other organ failure. In severe cases, it can lead to death. There is no specific treatment for Yellow Fever, and care is based on symptoms. Steps to prevent Yellow Fever infection include using insect repellent, wearing protective clothing, and getting vaccinated.
The only confirmed epidemic seems to be the tickets, fines, taxes and a whole lot of fat A lawmakers on the payroll.
THIS NUMBNUT IS PROBABLY A GUN AND MOSQUITO VIRGIN. MOSQUITOS DO NOT BREED IN CHLORINATED WATER.
Are you advocating citations for failing to add chlorine to swimming pools (and other bodies of standing water)?
He forgot about the vaccine that has been available for about 50 years….
The new immigrants have never been vaccinated, and they come from areas where yellow fever is fairly common. How many doses are locally available? How long does it take to make more? How many could die before it’s universally available. How many of those exposed are family members?
In other words, “We need the money!”
And if Warren residents drain or fill in a puddle to comply with the city requirements, the Feds (in the guise of the EPA) will come down on them like a ton of bricks for tampering with a protected wetland.
WOW!!! How much does a mosquito cop make anyway?? Sounds like a cushy job….especially in Michigan where there are no mosquitoes for most of the year!!!
Government breeds faster than mosquitoes.
Not a single black will be ticketed, mark my words!
Yellow fever is not a threat and wont’ be a threat anytime soon. From 1970-2002 (32yrs) only 9 cases were reported throughout the US and territories. It IS a non issue.
At least until it isn’t.
A few drops of cheap environmentally friendly vegetable oil in any puddle will kill all the mosquito larvae. Use the standing water as a trap to accomplish goal of reducing mosquito population, not government’s goal of reducing your bank accounts.
Splash of bleach will kill them, plus viruses, parasites, molds and mildews and bacteria.
Chlorine evaporates within a day.
HE is worried!
So, Citizens, OBEY or face penalties. Catch you a few times than its JAIL!
Jail over a mosquito.
I wonder, just who runs Detroit?
Its sure not the People.
A big, abandoned pool in the neighbors’ yard can be a serious mosquito nuisance. Neighbors won’t catch yellow fever, but they will get bitten constantly.
“We have zero tolerance for anyone with a swimming pool…”
Wasn’t aware Mosquitos liked heavily chlorinated water.
I’m sure they mean stagnant, uncared for swimming pool.
Bring back safer & effective DDT then continue to test
it with varying amounts of other safer spray like pyrethrins.
Problem controlled.
“We have zero tolerance for anyone with a swimming pool…”
You can visit the Warren City Swimming Pool to watch them ticket themselves every day:
Swimming Pool:
Adult Open Swim (Ages 16 and up)
Lap Swimming
Five, 25 yard lanes: Monday-Friday 6-8:45 a.m.; Saturday 8-8:45 a.m.; Sunday 9-11:45 a.m.
Three, 23-yard lanes: Monday-Friday 8:45 a.m.-9 p.m.
Gotta keep that tax paying bunch healthy ….
The Obama plagues are coming!
Go into the backyard of any random house and you will find an old bucket, flower pot, etc… with standing water in it. Zero tolerance mean infinite fine potential. Sounds like a win-lose scenario where the city always wins!
You WILL obey Comrade or off to the FEMA camp
It’s also an excuse to ENTER AND INSPECT your property! WAke the hell up Warren!
What a nutbag! He must be a liberal.
Mosquito’s don’t like gyrating water. They like it to be still and ripple free.
Coming next: The roof gutter police.
issuing tickets to those who could be harboring the disease-spreading mosquitoes on their properties.”
Swimming pools? What madness and what GAUL! of these parasites. Time to get rid of them all including the cops!
DDT time
Michigan’s biggest threat is it’s infestation of muslims not mosquitos. You idiots are doomed.
This is a total SCAM
20-50% die? Can we not get more accurate data? This is a big range.
Jim Fouts is the biggest moron in Michigan…Bar none
A pro-active approach to a low-probability, high impact event? A rare phenomenon in American policy decisions. We sure didn’t have that kind of thinking before 9-11, Pearl Harbor, the rise of ISIS or th invasion of Ukraine. Here’s one mayor who gets it. He’s drawing to an inside straight, but the pot odds are worth it.
Is it any wonder detroit’s population has dropped in half?
O.K., let me get this straight. If you have the temerity to own a swimming pool in this town, you are going to be Fined? Just because of a few mosquitoes? Really?
Immigrants used to be medically triaged at Ellis Island. Now they’re flown in at government expense and merged into the population. Have they been medically cleared? Does anyone even know? Yellow fever makes Zika look tame. It’s nearly as virulent as the 1918 flu ebidemic that literally decimated America. An ounce of prevention…. Or in this case, a little chlorine in the swimming pools.
We don’t have the type of mosquito in Michigan that is required to carry and transmit this disease, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same one that carries the Zika virus. The mayor needs to consult with the health dept. or CDC before making such wild claims. This is a disease found in the tropics or subtropical regions & possibly in the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico.
Is yellow fever carried from Africa due to infected immigrants.,
Dan,