750 million genetically engineered mosquitoes approved for release in Florida Keys

[North_Sky]

Count yourself lucky if you don't live here. Here is a recent view from our illustrious Governor DeSantis:
"Mr. DeSantis has stressed that the state’s virus crisis is largely limited to the very old."(NYT)
Yep. Us old non-productive, resource sapping, Social Security leeches are really the only ones dying in the 10,000 so far. Not Really a problem.

Time to make more babies quick?

 

[Wombat]

Genetically, not genatilly.

 

[EJ3]

A lot of folks like the sauna. Nothing wrong with that (if wet heat is your thing). I admit, Florida has some hard to argue positives: low cost of living (as you mentioned--but other areas can match that). Lax gun laws (some might not see that as a positive). Stand Your Ground and Castle Doctrine. Anything under 85 mph on the Interstate appears to be acceptable (out of restricted urban areas, of course). Keys are great for fishing.

I've spent time in the 'Glades. Large carnivorous lizards. Non-indigenous snakes larger than nature intended--snakes that have been known to explode from the inside out from eating the large carnivorous lizards. Mosquito swarms that darken the sky. It always gave me the creeps down there. I guess it was mostly because I generally don't want to hang in a place where I'm not at the top of the food chain.

The part about 'Florida Man' was a joke. It's now pretty much a meme, anymore. You do get some weird ones down there.

The last few times I traveled down to Orlando from Chas, SC, even the RV's on I-95 were thinking that 95 must be the speed limit (fine by me after doing a good bit of driving on the autobahn) but it was dangerous due to the speed differentials between those that were trying to stay closer to the legal speed & those who did not. Even NASCAR tries not to have more than a 20 mph variation between the slowest & the fastest cars on the track (who are all going in the same direction to the same location).

 

[JayGilb]

Thankfully, our attempts at controlling natural processes have never gone astray before...

Maybe import the hallucinogenic cane toads back from Australia to eat all of the mosquitoes.

 

[egellings]

If the gene drive does wipe out the aedes version, there will be a niche left open that some other enterprising pest will gladly fill.