Health officials ask parks to close before dusk

GREENWICH, Conn. (AP) — Greenwich health officials are asking that all parks in the area close before dusk because of the threat of the West Nile virus.

Five of the nine human cases of West Nile in the state this season have come in Greenwich and Stamford.

The Greenwich Department of Health says all parks, playgrounds, golf courses and other outdoor facilities should close a half-hour before dusk and reopen no earlier than a half-hour after sunrise.

Greenwich Health Director Calderone Baisley tells the Hearst Connecticut Media Group the restrictions will be lifted when mosquitoes collected by the state no longer test positive for West Nile.

Theodore Andreadis, the chief medical entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, says mosquito activity will likely continue into early November.

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Information from: Greenwich Time