Don't freak out, this happens every year right around this time. If you live in certain swaths of the city, your neighborhood may be getting hit with a dose of mosquito-combatting pesticides at 8:30 p.m. It's West Nile season, after all, with the disease making its first appearance in an NYC-dwelling human last month.
Here's what's up:
Parts of Crown Heights, Greenwood Heights, Kensington, Park Slope, Prospect Lefferts Garden, Prospect Heights, Prospect, Park South, Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace are getting sprayed.
Parts of Central Park, East Harlem, Harlem, Lincoln Square, Manhattan Valley, Morningside Heights, and Upper West Side are getting sprayed.
On Staten Island, parts of Arden Heights, Charleston, Fresh Kills, Greenridge, Hugenot, Pleasant Plains, Port Mobil, Princes Bay, Rossville, Sandy Ground, and Woodrow are getting sprayed.
The pesticide that will be distributed around your neighborhood is called Anvil, and it's reportedly safe as long as you refrain from like, swimming in it. The state health department maintains that short-term exposure to "high levels of petroleum solvents can cause irritation of the eye, skin, nose, throat or lung. Vomiting or central nervous system depression may occur if very high levels of petroleum solvents are ingested. There are no studies examin-ing whether the use of Anvil to control mosquitoes has caused any long-term health effects in humans."
It adds that very low concentrations are used to control mosquitoes. Read more here.
