Health o cials warn of West Nile virus

BY TEDDY JACOBSEN TJACOBSEN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Weeks of heavy rainfall followed by a string of hot days, has health o cials in Adams County warning residents to be aware of mosquitoes. e weather has created perfect conditions for mosquitoes, some with the ability to transmit the potentially deadly West Nile virus.

e Adams County Health Department runs a mosquito trapping program in various parts of the county. From there, they identify mosquitoes that could carry the virus and run tests on them.

Evans won his rst term in Nov. 2022. He is a retired Army and National Guard veteran ying the UH60 Black Hawk helicopter. He also served with the Arvada police department.

Groupthink

Evans opened the meeting by recounting the legislative process and discussing house bills he worked on. He said he worked with the Colorado Restaurant Association to kill House Bill 1118 because it required restaurant workers to schedule two weeks’ vacation in advance with no changes. It just put too many requirements on restaurant workers and management.

“My group advocated against this particular piece of legislation by the Colorado Restaurant Association,” Evans said. “It would be a lot of restaurants out of business to hire sta .”

He also fought against a bill that would have required landlords to pay the tenant two to three months of relocation assistance equivalent to the monthly rate if they chose not to renew a tenants’ lease.

“As a landlord, I will have to increase my rates if I have to pay my tenants whenever I don’t renew a lease, paying the equivalent of a quarter of the years of my income back to them so that they could relocate,” Evans said. “We were able to defeat that piece of legislation.”

Property taxes a concern

Art Biersvach with V10 Consulting, told Evans he worries about rising property taxes, saying he’s considering leaving the state.

“As citizens, we should get to debate or vote on this issue,” Biersvach said.

Evans said changes are beyond him, while he’s a member of the minority party.

“We have a saying the minority gets

Ferah Jaura, manager of the program, said that monitoring mosquitoes in this way is the county’s primary tool for warning the public about health risks.

So far, Jaura said the county has not tracked any mosquitoes carrying the virus.

However, the virus has been found in mosquitoes in Arapahoe, Boulder, Delta, Larimer and Weld counties, according to recent tests in each county.

West Nile is the most common mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of those who are infected don’t feel sick, but about one in ve people develop a fever and other symptoms. About one in 150 people become seriously ill and may die, according to the CDC.