With pandemic memories fresh, town’s voluntary curfew to prevent spread of lethal mosquito-borne virus draws ire

The idea to end outdoor activities near sunset to protect people from a deadly mosquito-borne virus is not new. This year’s public outcry about the measure is.

The idea to end outdoor activities near sunset to protect people from a deadly mosquito-borne virus is not new. This year’s public outcry about the measure is. In 2005, 2012 and 2019, towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut asked residents to curb outdoor activities during outbreaks of eastern equine encephalitis, an infection also known as EEE, with little fanfare or attention. Last week, however, when officials in Oxford, Massachusetts, announced a voluntary curfew and urged residents to finish outdoor activities before 6 p.m. through the end of September – and 5 p.m. in October until the first hard frost – some residents weren’t happy. About 200 showed up to a town meeting where the measure was discussed. There wasn’t the same kind of protest over similar measures to prevent the spread of EEE in 2019, said Philip Davis, president of Oxford’s Little League. “In my family, we were completely done when Covid ended. We were done being locked inside, being scared. Living scared is no way to live,” he said. But with the 2019 EEE curfews in recent memory, followed shortly after that by Covid restrictions, he said, “I think everybody at this point in time was just, ‘Enough is enough. Let’s put the decision-making back to parents.’ ”