The biggest problem in Central California is they are bulldozing thousands of acres of land for solar farms. This disturbs the soil and when the wind blows there's more of the spores floating about. Having live 70 years in Az and Ca I have not seen one case of it. My take is it's media hype..especially since the article comes from New York...Then again, I've never been bitten by a scorpion or been struck by lightning either...:W....Dennis