Northeast cities issue voluntary lockdown to prevent spread of potentially deadly EEE mosquito-borne disease

Four Massachusetts towns — Douglas, Oxford, Sutton and Webster — have imposed a voluntary evening curfew in an effort to curb the spread of a potentially deadly mosquito-borne disease.

The decision comes after the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) confirmed the first human case of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) since 2020 in Worcester County.

On Wednesday, the Oxford Board of Health voted to uphold the recommendation that people stay indoors after 6 p.m., effective immediately, until Sept. 30, according to a public health advisory shared with Fox News Digital.

Starting October 1st, it is recommended that you stay indoors after 5:00 PM until the first hard frost.

The period from dusk to dawn is considered “peak mosquito hours,” the release said.

The advisory designates four communities as “critically at risk.”

“It is the Board of Health’s responsibility to protect public health, and we take EEE very seriously and are strongly encouraging residents to follow these recommendations due to the severity of EEE and the fact that it is in our community,” a spokesperson said. for the city of Oxford said in an email to Fox News Digital.

“So far this year in Massachusetts, there has only been one human case of EEE, but across the state, mosquitoes have tested positive for EEE.”

The infected person, who lives in Oxford, remains “hospitalized and is bravely fighting this virus,” according to a Wednesday memo from Oxford’s city manager provided to Fox News Digital.

The closures are considered recommendations and will not be enforced if residents do not comply, the city spokesman said.

“We want to educate our residents about EEE and the seriousness of the disease and make them aware of the risk,” the statement continued.

“However, if they want to use city land outside of these recommendations, they will need to show proof of insurance and sign an indemnity form.”

Oxford is working with the other three critical risk communities, with all four issuing the same recommendations, the spokesman confirmed.

“Schools are working to reschedule and adjust their sports schedules so that practices and games occur before these evening and weekend hours,” the email noted.

Fox News Digital reached out to Oxford Public Schools for comment.

What is Eastern Equine Encephalitis?

Eastern equine encephalitis is caused by a virus that is spread through the bite of an infected mosquito, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which describes EEE as a “rare but serious disease.”

Only a few cases are reported in the US each year, most in the Eastern or Gulf Coast states, the agency states on its website.

Humans and other animals that contract the virus are considered “recessed hosts,” the CDC says, meaning they can’t spread it to mosquitoes that bite them.

Common symptoms of EEE include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, stiff neck, seizures, behavioral changes, and drowsiness.

These usually appear five to 10 days after the bite.

The disease can be fatal, resulting in death for 30% of infected people. It can also lead to chronic neurological deficits, according to the CDC.

“Eastern equine encephalitis can cause infection of the brain (encephalitis), which can be fatal,” Edward Liu, MD, chief of infectious diseases at Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center, told Fox News Digital.

Elderly people and those who are immunocompromised are at the highest risk for mosquito-borne encephalitis, according to Liu.

Dr. John Ayers, vice chief of innovation at the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the University of California, San Diego, confirmed to Fox News Digital that EEE is “serious but extremely rare.”

“With no overt preventive measures, cases remain much rarer than being struck by lightning,” he said.

Prevention and treatment

The fact that local mosquitoes have the virus and a Massachusetts patient has been infected is “disturbing,” Liu said.

“While evening closures may be protective, other options would be to educate the public about the risk, encourage the use of mosquito repellents and spray to prevent the spread of mosquitoes,” he advised.

Ayers added, “I don’t think there’s anything you can do to significantly lower your individual chances of disease because they’re already so low.”

He agrees that typical strategies for dealing with mosquito-borne diseases are killing mosquitoes, reducing standing water areas where they can nest, and spraying to kill their larvae.

“These viral encephalitides have no treatment, so prevention and supportive care is the only course of action,” Liu noted.

There is currently no vaccine for eastern equine encephalitis.

Preventing mosquito bites is the best way to prevent infection, the CDC confirmed.

Fox News Digital reached out to the CDC for additional comment.