TAMPA BAY — Hillsborough and Pinellas counties declared local states of emergency Thursday over dengue fever, joining Pasco a day after that county’s seven-day order and putting the three core bay counties under the same emergency pause for mosquito control.
Hillsborough County Administrator Bonnie Wise signed an executive order that took effect Thursday and can run seven days unless it is lifted or extended. Pinellas County commissioners voted the same afternoon to declare a State of Local Emergency, giving County Administrator Barry A. Burton authority to speed mosquito-control spending and seek state reimbursement if the governor makes funding available, the county said.
Pasco’s Board of County Commissioners had already approved its own seven-day local emergency earlier in the week so administrators and the Pasco County Mosquito Control District could cut procurement red tape. Tampa Bay Observer covered that vote separately; Thursday’s moves turn a single-county tool into a regional one.
Case counts and why officials moved together
Pinellas County said the Florida Department of Health report issued Sept. 24 listed seven confirmed dengue cases in Pinellas and 179 confirmed cases across Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough. Hillsborough remains the epicenter. WUSF, citing the same state surveillance cycle, reported Hillsborough added 36 locally acquired cases for the week of Sept. 13–19 and still accounts for the large majority of Florida’s recent local dengue tally.
Pasco has reported only two dengue cases, both in August, and Pinellas has not confirmed a new case since August, according to local health officials quoted by WUSF. Officials in both counties framed their orders as proactive: keep transmission from climbing the way it has in Hillsborough, and free emergency managers to surge traps, treatments and contracts without waiting on ordinary purchasing rules.
“There is really no reason to be alarmed at this point,” Trang Chitakone, administrator for the Florida Department of Health in Pasco County, said at a Thursday news conference covered by WUSF. “However, since we do have your attention, this is a time that we want to get the community involved to prevent further spread. Our numbers in Pasco are low right now, but we want to keep it that way.”
Adriene Rogers, executive director of the Pasco Mosquito Control District, told the same briefing that dengue is bigger than any one district or county and that her agency has been coordinating regionally since Hillsborough’s summer surge. “Mosquitoes may not travel; people do,” health officials have stressed — Aedes mosquitoes that spread dengue usually stay close to where they hatch, but infected people move freely for the roughly two weeks before symptoms appear.
Pinellas also flagged rising West Nile virus activity in sentinel chicken coops, an early warning for potential human transmission, in the same emergency announcement.
What the orders do — and do not do
A local state of emergency is not a lockdown. Schools stay open. Events are not canceled by the order itself. The practical change is speed: administrators can approve mosquito-control spending, staffing and contractors faster, and counties position themselves for possible state or federal reimbursement of emergency costs.
Hillsborough Mosquito Management has already been flying and spraying in neighborhoods with trap hits, including recent helicopter treatments in South Tampa, East Tampa, Seminole Heights, Bloomingdale and Riverview, county officials said. Residents can watch treatment maps on the county site and sign up for neighborhood notices.
Outside the three-county bloc, Polk County on Thursday announced its first locally acquired human dengue case of the season, underscoring that the problem is not limited to Tampa Bay’s core counties.
What residents should do this week
Public health agencies keep returning to the same backyard checklist because dengue mosquitoes breed in teaspoons of water and bite in daylight:
- Drain standing water at least weekly — flowerpot saucers, buckets, birdbaths, pet bowls, toys, gutters, tarps and pool covers.
- Cover skin with long sleeves and pants when you can, especially in shaded yards.
- Use an EPA-registered insect repellent with DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus or related actives, and follow the label.
- Repair screens and run porch fans; moving air makes it harder for mosquitoes to land.
Dengue often brings high fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, joint and muscle pain, nausea or rash. Seek emergency care for severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, bleeding, breathing trouble or a sudden crash as a fever breaks. There is no routine over-the-counter cure; prevention still starts in the yard.
Hillsborough’s order and Pinellas’s declaration each run on a seven-day clock unless extended. Pasco’s parallel order works the same way. For bay residents, the new fact Thursday is simple: the emergency authority now stretches from Clearwater to Plant City to New Port Richey, and the ask from mosquito control is unchanged — dump the water before the next rain resets the breeding sites.