Saugus.net: The Archives

Dailies for August of 2008

August 29, 2008

All the information that we've received from the Saugus Founders' Day Committee for this year's Saugus Founders' Day is now available online. Remember too that Founders' Day weekend has traditionally been a big weekend for yard sales locally, and a lot of people will be looking online to help plan out their day. If you're having a yard sale Founders' Day weekend, don't forget to post it so that people can find it.

August 28, 2008

The local business Park Press Printers was updated today.

August 27, 2008

This is just a reminder that if you want an answer to your feedback question or comment, we'll need a valid e-mail address. We get a surprising number of questions that we can't answer because the contact information left was invalid.

August 26, 2008

The Saugus Board of Health asked us to post the following regarding arbovirus surveillance and response procedures for the 2008 season:

Dead Bird Reporting

Citizens may report a dead bird(s) by calling the MDPH Public Health Information Line at 866-MASS-WNV (866-627-7968) and pressing option "1". Callers will then be asked to provide information on the type of bird, date of death, street address where the bird was found and the condition of the bird carcass.

MDPH will provide live operators to take dead bird reports 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Trained operators will staff the line to triage calls and determine if testing would be appropriate. MDPH staff will return all calls regarding the pick-up of dead birds for WNV testing in a timely manner.

Dead Bird Testing

The information line staff will assess the suitability of each bird for WNV testing from the affirmative answers to the following questions:

From a town or its adjacent towns with fewer than two WNV (+) birds to date?

Crow or blue jay? (Note: Descriptions and images of crows and blue jays can be viewed on the MDPH Arbovirus Website at www.mass.gov/dph/wnv/ under 'General Information'.)

Dead less than 24 hours?

Free of maggots, flies, and ants?

Intact (no trauma, bites, etc.)?

Specimens that meet these criteria and are approved for WNV testing by MDPH staff will be assigned a tracking number. Specimens without a tracking number will not be accepted for WNV testing. Routine testing of dead birds in a city or town will be suspended once there have been two WNV (+) birds identified within that city or town or its contiguous neighbors.