Inspector Update: 9/18/2020

Important Update

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PPMA Business Class: Pest Control in 2021- COVID, Flu, Political Climate, and the Economy.

COVID swiftly spread across the nation making 2020 a challenging year for all businesses and adversely affecting the nation’s collective mental health. Some pest control companies have experienced record growth during the past six months while others saw business decline.

Both NPMA and PPMA have been influencing policy throughout the pandemic. How has the association been able to move decision makers during this time? What state and federal programming has helped or potentially hurt the industry? What opportunities or pitfalls may lie ahead? The panelists will look back at the association's engagement, understand our current status, and project what changes may lie ahead.

Please join us for an evening webinar that will highlight insights into the government and economy from the eyes of industry experts.

PPMA continues to hold classes on Thursdays at 7 pm to 9 pm via Zoom. This week's class description is as follows:

Labels - John Diesel, CNI / Termites - James Rodriguez, B&G

September 17

7:00 PM

Credits: 2 - 12, 18

Registration and class descriptions are available here: www.papest.org

We highly recommend that you pre-register for the meetings so we have your information before hand which makes it easier to record that you attended and a lot less likely that a mistake will be made. We have had some last minute attendees join the meetings without registering and this can create confusion and lead to you not getting your credits.

Be on the lookout for more classes upcoming. They will all be online, via Zoom. When you register, the Zoom link and instructions will be emailed to you.

Questions/concerns about your credits? Jess Lenker of the Dept. is available for more in depth questions: (717) 772-5217 jeslenker@pa.gov

Don't forget about the educational opportunities found on NPMA's website where you can find all sorts of online learning. Check out the Online Learning Center here.

2020 Platinum Partners

Industry News

Virtual 46th Annual Training Conference of the Pennsylvania Vector Control Association

Please join us for the 46^th annual training conference of the Pennsylvania Vector Control Association (PVCA) taking place virtually this year on October 8, 2020 (8am-5pm).

This year we are collaborating with the Northeast Regional Center for Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases (NEVBD) to host our training using the Zoom Webinar platform. Although we will miss seeing everyone in person and the value those interactions bring, we are excited to be able to offer a full day of training while adhering to the Covid-19 restrictions.

Due to the generosity of NEVBD and their access to the virtual platform, there will be no fees this year to participate.

Registrations can be entered at: https://bit.ly/PVCA2020. Please have your PA Pesticide Certification number when registering as it will be used when applying for credits.

Attached is a preliminary agenda for the conference. Continuing Education Credits for PA Pesticide Applicator licenses will be issued by the PA Department of Agriculture.

Please also take some time to visit our website (http://pavectorcontrol.org/) from time to time for updates on the agenda and for links to our Vendors/Sustaining Members. An organization such as ours cannot survive without their constant support. Although they may not be with us in person this year to show us their products and services, the links to our Vendors sites will bring you to the most updated information on their products and services. And like always, most are just a quick phone call or email away for more personal service.

We look forward to being with you on October 8!

Sincerely,

Carmen L. Reichard

PVCA Secretary

PENNSYLVANIA VECTOR CONTROL ASSOCIATION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

OCTOBER 8, 2020 (8am-5pm)

TENTATIVE AGENDA

8:00 a.m. – 8:05 a.m. Opening Remarks

Ray Delaney, PVCA President

8:05 a.m. – 8:15 a.m. Northeast Regional Center for Excellence in Vector-Borne

Diseases

Emily Mader, NEVBD

Session 1 (Moderator: Leah Lamonte)

8:15 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. 2020 Update on PA’s Mosquito-Borne Disease Program

Matt Helwig, PA DEP Vector Management

8:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. 2020 Update on PA’s Black Fly Suppression Program

Doug Orr, PA DEP Vector Management

8:45 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. 2020 Update on PA’s Tick Program

Christian Boyer, PA DEP Vector Management

9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. 2020 Update on NJ’s Mosquito-Borne Disease Program

Scott Crans, NJDEP Office of Mosquito Control Coordination

9:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Lessons Learned in a Career in DOD Vector Control

Stan Cope, PhD, Catchmaster & Past President of AMCA

10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. How Covid has Changed our Jobs

Scott Crans, NJDEP Office of Mosquito Control Coordination

10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. DEET Education Program

Judi Anderson, DEET Education Program

11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Ticks of Pennsylvania

Michael Skvarla, PhD, Penn State University

11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Break

Session 2 (Moderator: Mary Vibostok)

12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. Suddenly meatless: How tick bites and reactions to red meat are changing the paradigm of food allergy

Scott Commins MD, PhD, University of North Carolina

12:30 p.m. – 12:50 p.m. Segmented Flavivirus Infections in the United States

Kurt Vandergrift MS, PhD, Penn State University

12:50 p.m. – 1:10 p.m. Amblyomma americanum habit study

JR Stewart PhD, Shippensburg University

1:10 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Coming soon to a neighborhood near you: Range expansion of the Gulf Coast tick

Holly Gaff PhD, Old Dominion University

1:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Introduction of the NIH/NIAID supported Black Fly Research and Resource Center

Elmer Gray PhD, University of Georgia

1:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Effects of temperature regime on Simulium vittatum

Sophie Racey, University of Georgia

2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Temperature and hydrology improve the prediction of West Nile virus in New York and Connecticut

Alex “Sasha” Keyel PhD, University at Albany ES317

2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Mosquito/Stormwater Management

Nathaniel Nagle, Prince William County Public Works

3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Update on EEE virus: an Emerging Mosquito-borne Virus of Public Health Concern

Philip M. Armstrong, ScD, Department of Environmental Sciences, New Haven, CT

3:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Entomological Society of America/PHE Certification

Willet Hossfeld, Entomological Society of America

3:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. AMCA 2020 Update

Ary Faraji, PhD, BCE, Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District

4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. CDC Arboviral Disease Update

Roxanne Connelly, PhD, BCE, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO

4:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. TBD

4:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Closing Remarks

Ray Delaney, PVCA President

Resources for Learning How to Zoom

If you have heard the term "Zoom Meeting" and have no idea what people are talking about, keep reading! Zoom is an online platform that allows companies to do a video meeting via a computer, tablet or smart phone. It is helpful to gather people together especially in a time that is very difficult and unsafe to do so. Using Zoom can be daunting for some folks that aren't comfortable with computers, but no need to worry! There are many programs out there dedicated to helping you learn how to be proficient at online video chats.

Here is a link that will be of help:

Tutorial for Zooming

It is also important that you have your name on the screen as well so you can be properly identified. Please follow this link to learn how to do that: https://teaching.nmc.edu/knowledgebase/changing-your-name-in-a-zoom-meeting/

Also, here are some pointers to make your Zoom call go smoothly:

Lighting: Please be in a place with good lighting. We want to see you, not the shadow of you.
Camera: Try to have your camera centered so you aren’t looking up or down at it. You can use a stack of books to raise your computer to eye level, which will help.
Mute: When you enter the meeting you will be on mute. Please make sure you stay on mute unless you are talking. When you finish speaking please put yourself on mute again. If at any point there is too much background noise we will mute all and if you were speaking, you will need to unmute yourself to continue.
Questions: If you have a question you can type it in the chat and/or use the raise your hand feature.
Background: Please be aware of your surroundings and noise in the background so there are no accidental mishaps.

Virtual Backgrounds: If you like to use a virtual background you may get a lot of electronic “noise” when you move around such as a missing arm, missing hair and so on. You will want to limit your movement if you are speaking and have a virtual background so part of you doesn’t disappear.
Internet Connection: If you have a slow connection you may want to try and use an ethernet cable and plug your computer directly into your router. If this does not help, you can stay on the camera, but use the phone number to dial in. Please make sure you keep your computer on mute if you dial in.

Silver Partners

Have You Renewed Your Joint NPMA/PPMA Membership Yet?

You can renew your joint membership by clicking here! We would love to see you stay with us as there are a lot of great things in store this coming year!

Bronze Partners

Pests In the News

West Nile virus spreads most efficiently in the US at temperatures between 24-25 degrees Celsius (75.2-77 degrees Fahrenheit)

The results suggest that climate change could lead to the increased spread of West Nile virus in some places, while potentially causing a decrease in others, and provide insight on where and when these changes might occur.

"As the climate warms, it is critical to understand how temperature changes will affect the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases," says lead author Marta Shocket, who was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University, California, US, at the time the study was carried out, and is now a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, US.

To do this, Shocket and her colleagues developed models to assess the impact of temperature on six mosquito-borne viruses, four of which occur in the US. These viruses -- the West Nile, St. Louis Encephalitis, Eastern and Western Equine Encephalitis, Sindbis, and Rift Valley fever viruses -- were grouped together for this study as they share some of the same species of mosquito carriers.

The models used laboratory experiments that measured how different temperatures affect the mosquitoes' survival, biting rate, reproduction, development and ability to transmit the virus. The team validated their West Nile model using data on human virus transmission in the US. They found that West Nile virus is transmitted most readily at moderate temperatures, while extreme temperatures limit where its mosquito carriers could live and successfully transmit the virus.

"Most of the viruses covered in this work are from more temperate areas than more commonly studied tropical diseases," Shocket explains. "We compared these results to those of tropical diseases like malaria and dengue and found that the optimal temperatures and cold thermal limits for virus spread are cooler. This means the viruses spread more efficiently at cooler temperatures compared to more tropical diseases, as you would expect."

The results suggest that mosquito-borne diseases could take a greater toll in the US as temperatures rise, especially as most of the population (70%) lives in places that are currently below the optimal temperature and will likely see increased transmission with climate warming. This is compared to 30% of the population who live in places where summer temperatures are above the optimal temperature, meaning transmission will likely decrease with climate warming. Temperature increases could also extend virus transmission seasons earlier into the Spring and later into the Fall.

"Climate change is poised to increase the transmission of West Nile and other mosquito-borne viruses in much of the US," concludes senior author Erin Mordecai, Assistant Professor of Biology at Stanford University. "But these diseases also depend on human contact with mosquitoes that also contact wildlife, so factors like human land use, mosquito control, mosquito and virus adaptations, and the emergence of new viruses make predicting the future of mosquito-borne disease a challenge."

Click here for original article.

We want to hear from you!

Do you have any news about your business? Anything to brag about? We would love to share stories about our members. Feel free to send those to Bridget at bcole@versantstrategies.net so we can all learn more about each other!

Pest World for Kids!

Kids grade K through 8 might want to check out Pest World for Kids this summer! There are ebooks, crafts, games and more to educate and entice a young learner, especially the kids that love creepy crawlies! Check it out now!