Cold temperatures kick EEE threat out of Grafton

Feel free to frolic at sunset. Walk the dog in the dark without a thick layer of bug spray. And maybe, just maybe, take in a football game under the lights some Friday night.

The Board of Health has lifted its ban on outdoor activities on town and school-owned properties after dark after several nights of cold temperatures knocked out the threat of mosquito-borne Eastern Equine Encephalitis.

The ban took effect back in August, shortly after a Grafton man was diagnosed with EEE. As a result of the EEE threat, local high schools revised their sports schedules to eliminate high schools, events on Grafton Common were curtailed after dark, and parents even expressed concerns about trick-or-treating.

About a dozen people in Massachusetts were diagnosed with EEE this year. Three people in the state have died from the disease, which has a 30-50 percent mortality rate. Most survivors will have severe, permanent neurological damage.

The risk of EEE has resulted in two aerial sprayings of Grafton and surrounding towns. Town Meeting voted to join the Central Mass Mosquito Control Project last month to help lessen future outbreaks.