Tampa Bay Counties Declare Emergencies Over Dengue Outbreak

Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties all declared states of local emergency this week as dengue fever cases climb and Florida records its first death of the year.

Hillsborough County administrator Bonnie Wise signed a state of local emergency over rising dengue fever cases on Thursday, effective immediately and lasting seven days unless rescinded or extended. Pasco County issued its emergency order on Wednesday, and Pinellas commissioners voted to follow suit at their Thursday meeting. Pinellas County Administrator Barry Burton said the declaration gives him authority to quickly approve mosquito-control expenditures, and county attorney Jewel White told the Tampa Bay Times that Pinellas' order is limited to 42 days and opens access to state funding should it become available.

According to CDC data cited by the Tampa Bay Times, Florida has reported 392 dengue cases, both locally and internationally acquired, with 38 new locally acquired cases statewide in the last week. Tampa Bay accounts for 169 of them — 160 in Hillsborough, seven in Pinellas and two in Pasco as of Sept. 19, per Florida Department of Health data. WUSF reports Hillsborough alone added 36 locally acquired cases for the week of Sept. 13–19, likely an undercount given the state tally's lag. St Pete Catalyst reports the Tampa Bay region at 179 confirmed cases in the FDOH's Sept. 24 report, and notes Pinellas has also seen increased West Nile virus activity in sentinel chicken coops.

Earlier this month, an 80-year-old Tampa woman died after being bitten near her South Tampa home — the first known dengue death in Florida this year and the first fatality from the disease in the Tampa Bay region in almost a century. According to ABC News, which cited the Tampa Bay Times, the Florida Department of Health confirmed the death but withheld personal details for privacy reasons. ABC News also reports the state had confirmed 152 locally acquired cases for the week ending Sept. 12, the highest number since 2023, when Florida recorded 189 over the entire year.

The striking element is that Pasco, with only two cases, and Pinellas, which has had no confirmed case since August, both moved proactively. WUSF quotes Pasco health department administrator Trang Chitakone saying there is 'really no reason to be alarmed at this point,' but that low county numbers are exactly why the community should act to keep them that way. 'They don't stop at the county line,' Pinellas Commission Chairperson Dave Eggers told the Tampa Bay Times of the mosquitoes. Pasco Mosquito Control's Adriene Rogers said the disease requires a regional response that is 'bigger than any one county.'

Pinellas County could spend another $1 million on chemicals, overtime pay and services from another county to treat mosquitoes, County Administrator Barry Burton told the Tampa Bay Times. Hillsborough has stepped up aerial and ground pesticide spraying, with WUSF reporting helicopter treatments this week in South Tampa, East Tampa, Seminole Heights, Bloomingdale and Riverview. Hillsborough health officer Carla Fry told WUSF's 'Florida Matters Live & Local' that nearly daily rain keeps washing larvicide away, forcing repeated treatments. Polk County also announced its first human case of locally acquired dengue on Thursday, per WUSF.

Officials across the region stress that control starts in individual backyards, because Aedes mosquitoes breed in tiny containers of standing water — buckets, flowerpots, toys, clogged gutters, old tires and pool covers. 'Government cannot be in every backyard every day,' Rogers told WUSF. Health officials recommend draining standing water, keeping pools chlorinated and covered, using federally registered repellents with ingredients like DEET or picaridin, and wearing long sleeves, especially at sunrise and sunset. Anyone who suspects dengue activity is urged to report it, and Hillsborough maintains an online map of scheduled treatments and a mosquito management hotline.