“While we normally see these mosquitoes in two to three counties each year, this year they have been in 15 counties so far, and scattered all over New York State. This life-threatening mosquito-borne disease has no commercially available human vaccine and must be taken seriously.

New York is joining the states in the Northeast US warning about the eastern equine encephalitis virus after a New Yorker died from the disease.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday afternoon the Ulster County resident believed to have contracted New York state’s first case of EEE since 2015 died.