Can mosquitoes transmit coronaviruses? No, there is no evidence that mosquitoes can transmit these viruses.
There are viruses that mosquitoes have evolved to transmit, but these do not include coronaviruses.Viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes such as dengue, yellow fever, West Nile encephalitis and Zika, are specialized in that they have figured out a way to invade and thrive in a mosquito. These arboviruses (arthropod-borne viruses) are picked up by a mosquito when it gets blood from an infected animal. Since SARS-CoV-2, the agent of COVID19 is a respiratory virus it is not present in the blood in significant numbers so mosquitoes won’t be infected that way.
While a mosquito may get some SARS-CoV-2 on its surface if an infected person sneezes on it or if it lands on a contaminated surface, the virus cannot replicate and the minuscule amount that may still be there when the mosquito reaches someone else and is transferred by contact is insignificant. You’ll get way more virus from a doorknob.
Importantly, however, the COVID19 pandemic is making the work of mosquito control professionals harder: many mosquito control programs are part of Health Departments and their staff are being diverted to COVID19 activities. Further, mosquito control programs have had to implement social distancing at work, which impacts the work they can do. And some programs have sick personnel and are being unable to hire. Even during a non-mosquito borne pandemic, mosquito control work is critical especially early in the active mosquito season because proactive measures to minimize those other infectious disease problems need to be put in place.
To see more about what mosquitoes do carry, check out our surveillance reports.