KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Following cancellations in Kalamazoo County of an aerial spraying for the mosquito virus “EEE,” citizens including commissioners are displeased with the lack of communication in the situation.
Kalamazoo County Health Officer Jim Rutherford gave an EEE presentation during the County’s afternoon meeting Tuesday.
“Overall, the State received about 1200 opt-outs from residents in Kalamazoo county,” Rutherford said. “Aeronautically, each opt-out requires 22 acres of space being excluded. While only 4.6% of residents opted out, this negated the vast majority of planned treatment areas.”
Part of the issue was having a small window of time to opt out of being sprayed, or having no information about how to opt out.
Rutherford explained the process while noting that he was not pointing fingers at any one entity.
“We experienced a great deal of communication challenges which began from the onset of this process,” Rutherford said. “Local health departments were at the mercy of the State…beginning with the process including lack of communication with the Department of Agriculture. There wasn’t a very clear understanding as it related to the opt-out requirements, as well as the Governor’s office. That was rectified, but that correction took probably three or four days worth of planning.”
Commissioners expressed frustration with the short notice of information between the Board and the State.
“Not everybody has access to social media, not everybody has access to cable or to local TV in getting the word out,” Vice Chair Tracy Hall said. “A lot of people missed an opportunity to opt out or not opt out without that information. I wish we would have had a press conference earlier or there would have been more time for people to opt out, or at least to have an understanding of what was happening.”
The commissioners ended the conversation with Rutherford thanking him for the hard work, but noting that communication between entities needs to be better in the future.
