Now we’re facing West Nile virus, too
Call this the summer of the viruses. Novel coronavirus is keeping many people inside. It canceled Memphis in May and other live festivals and concerts. It’s closed bars and led to the removal of rims from community basketball courts — places of kinship and camaraderie — because people can kill each other by expressing that kinship and camaraderie.
Now comes the West Nile virus. Mosquitoes carrying that potentially lethal virus have been detected in nearly one-third of Shelby County’s 38 ZIP codes. Shelby County Health officials have been warning residents in those 12 ZIP codes to avoid venturing out after dark, and to wear long sleeves to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes carrying the virus.
While far fewer people die of West Nile virus than of COVID-19 — 167 people died of the virus in 2018 — it isn’t comforting that after wearing a mask, washing hands and staying close to home, another virus can sicken and kill people once they step outside.
During summer, being outdoors is supposed to be about life. Not death.
It’s also doubly discomforting to know that like COVID-19, which has killed about 150,000 Americans because the Trump administration was too slow in confronting it and states were too quick to open up after locking down, the administration’s disdain for climate science is abetting the spread of the West Nile virus.
And climate change may boost the proliferation of West Nile mosquitoes.
According to a 2016 report by the Environmental Protection Agency, climate change is expected to change the geographical and seasonal patterns of diseases that are carried by mosquitoes, ticks and other vectors. West Nile virus is now the most common cause of mosquito-borne disease in the United States.
The virus can cause flu-like symptoms, such as headaches and body aches, in its victims, and in extreme cases, it can cause encephalitis and death.
But studies show that higher temperatures may be boosting the prevalence of mosquitoes carrying the disease, and the Mississippi Delta region is among four regions with the highest yearly incidents of West Nile virus, according to the EPA.
“So much talk about climate change has been about greenhouse gases and emissions, but communities are also going to be severely impacted by these vector-borne diseases such as West Nile virus,” said Robert Bullard, distinguished professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University.
Bullard is also known as “the father of the environmental justice movement.”
Memphis’ poorer communities may be especially vulnerable to the spread of West Nile — largely because most of the time, poor communities have more weeds, more illegal dumping and more places with standing water where mosquitoes breed, he said.
Out of the 12 Shelby County ZIP codes where the West Nile mosquitoes have been detected, eight have poverty rates that exceed 25%.
One, 38126, has a poverty rate of 61% — the highest in the county.
“When you start mapping where these outbreaks are occurring, it’s important to understand that not all of the residents are able to respond in the same way,” Bullard said. “There’s a lack of income and health care, and the health impacts and equity impacts go hand in hand.”
This is why it’s past time to acknowledge the role that climate change is playing in making poorer communities more vulnerable to disease.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris believe climate change is a threat — and both have worked to develop plans to combat it largely by focusing on reducing the city and county’s carbon footprint.
But at the same time, the Trump administration has been undermining such efforts by doing things such as weakening regulations on the emission of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that exacerbates global warming.
Global warming — like the kind that is making it easier for West Nile mosquitoes to breed.
So, staying inside, washing hands and wearing masks will stop the spread of COVID-19. Staying inside at dusk and dawn can stop people from being bitten by mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus.
But it’s hard not to think about how, if contempt for science wasn’t so contagious in the highest administration in the land, we wouldn’t be faced with fighting these contagions in our midst right now.
And we could all enjoy the summer outdoors. Without viruses ruining the picnic.