Following the discovery of an Aedes Aegypti mosquito in North Long Beach last year, mosquito districts throughout Los Angeles have been gearing up and preparing to respond to this potential public health emergency.

Following the discovery of an Aedes Aegypti mosquito in North Long Beach last year, mosquito districts throughout Los Angeles have been gearing up and preparing to respond to this potential public health emergency. To this end, the Compton Creek Mosquito Abatement District recently hosted two training days for approximately 60 Los Angeles County Health Officials, community first responders, and emergency public safety personnel on how to respond in the case of an emergency mosquito outbreak.

These all-day trainings were split into two parts. The first part provided an overview of Mosquito Abatement Districts, the life-cycle of mosquitoes, and mosquito-borne diseases. It also covered our integrated mosquito management plan, how to identify mosquito habitats, and best practices for when inspecting homes in the community.

For the second portion of the training, District staff led the participants into the surrounding community to employ their newfound knowledge through home residence inspections in the field.

Our March 10th event, held at Gonzalez Park in Compton, had around 29 people in attendance, including representatives from Compton College and the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department. Our District President Micah Ali gave remarks and was joined by fellow Trustee, and Compton Council Member, Tana McCoy and Compton Council Member Emma Sharif.

Our March 17th event, held at Burrell Mc Donald Park in Compton, also had around 30 people in attendance, including Grace Shin – the Branch Chief of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Environmental Health Division as well as Compton Creek Trustee Margaret Comer and her husband, Isom Comer. 

Although staff from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Environmental Health Division have attended many similar trainings across the County, we were pleased to learn that ours has been the most comprehensive and effective training to date. This gives us great hope and optimism that we will be able quickly and effectively contain an outbreak if one occurs.

The response from our first two training days generated so much interest and positive feedback that we have opted to add a third specifically for Code Enforcement Officers, the Compton Fire Department, and the Compton Unified School District Police Department.

If you or your organization would like to receive similar training then please call us at 310-933-5321 to set up a specialized education class hosted by our General Manager, and Mosquito Guru, Mitchel R. Weinbaum.