While the Miami Dolphins sharpen their X’s and O’s in a pre-season exhibition game against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday at the newly named Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, the organization will also hone its defense against Zika-carrying mosquitos.
Over the last few weeks the AFC East franchise routinely sprayed the 265-acre stadium premises, including parking lots, with EPA-approved chemicals in order to decrease mosquitoes as a “precaution, and in the interest of fan safety” reported the Palm Beach Post.
Officials for the Dolphins followed the multi-step recommendations by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), using only products considered safe for people, pets, and aquatic life.
The Fins’ refurbished home, which sits just 15 miles from the Zika-virus hot-zone in Miami Beach, boasts new seats, scoreboards, and a canopy designed to provide shade for fans. The team, which enjoyed back-to-back Super Bowl victories in 1972 and ’73 behind the heralded “no-name defense,” opens its regular season on Sunday, September 25 against the Cleveland Browns.
So far, the Zika virus infected several hundred U.S. residents traveling outside the country, while 43 residents contracted the virus from domestic mosquito bites. All but one of the domestic infections happened in South Florida, the majority in Miami Dade County.
The 1972 Dolphins completed the only complete undefeated season in the Super Bowl-era when they won all 14 regular season games, two playoff games, and Super Bowl VII.
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