Easton Board of Health Rescinds Nighttime Curtailment Recommendation After Hard Frost

The Easton Board of Health announced Monday that there is no longer a need to curtail nighttime activities in response to a heightened Eastern Equine Encephalitis threat.

Friday night's hard frost ended Easton's "critical" threat level, which had been in place since early August. EEE was first found in the Shovel Town in early July.

Easton officials have recommended the curtailment of activities as a result.

While the Board of Health enacted a regulation giving it the authority to ban night-time activities, it did not put the regulation into action.

Below is a full message from Health Agent Mark Taylor:

The Easton Board of Health would like to first thank all the residents, school groups and recreational organizations in town for their cooperation in following the Board of Health guidelines on personal protection from Mosquito borne illness and the curtailment of night time activities.

The Easton Health Department has received confirmation from the National Weather Service that on the evening of Friday 12, 2012 into the morning of Saturday 13, 2012 the town of Easton did experience a hard frost.  Due to this fact the Board of Health feels that at this time it is safe to lift the recommendation urging the curtailment of nighttime activities.  This has been a historic year for mosquito infection as well as infection in humans in the state of Massachusetts.  Because the efforts of all those involved of the schools and sports groups, there has not been a single confirmed case of West Nile virus or EEE in a human in the town of Easton.

Thank you for your efforts

Mark Taylor

Health Agent

Town of Easton