Comments on: Nicholas Brown’s Bedbug Chronicles, Part 7

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:49:37 +0000

3 months later, no word on whether treatment #6 did it for Brown–a fire in the interim no doubt took precedence in his mind and writing. But now he and roommate Jihad are moving to a co-op Brown purchased.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicholas-brown/diary-of-an-aspiring-new-_b_88702.html

By: parakeets

parakeets — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:05:08 +0000

Hopelessnomo and nobugs–I realize I did color this person’s decision to move based on my own experiences. I don’t know this guy so I should not have judged his situation. However, I personally think it might not be all that unusual for a multi-unit building to be treated multiple times over 52 days (less than 2 months) and still have bedbugs. I think other people besides this Huffington poster are giving it two months and then dealing with the problem by moving out–while they still have bedbugs. Bedbugs are spreading in NYC, as nobugs said, “like wildfire.”

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 04:55:12 +0000

While I think people do need to put in a good fight, Nicholas Brown has had seven treatments in those 52 days. That’s almost an unheard-of one treatment per week. And he has reason to think neighbors are infested and refusing treatment. Under those conditions, if the landlord is not going to force the neighbor to be treated, then he just has to cut his losses and get out.

Earlier installments gave me the sense Brown was not particularly well-to-do (he had two roommates until the bed bugs cleared the place out). I don’t think moving is easy in this case.

I do think it also speaks well for the cause of those with bed bugs, that people realize treatment can be really difficult. I am glad Brown’s readers have a new appreciation for the horror of bed bugs: he did the laundry, he had seven treatments, his roommate was driven away, and now he has to move. What better testament to the nightmare of bed bugs in multi-unit housing? It does not take much imagination for the reader to consider the fate of those who can’t move.

(Luckily, though, Joe Fiorito of The Star in Toronto is covering that angle… you can see some of his articles linked in articles here.)

By: hopelessnomo

hopelessnomo — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:34:47 +0000

Hi Parakeets,

I think you and I can’t be objective on this subject.

Yes, Nicholas Brown may move bedbugs with him when/if he moves. And new tenants will rent his apartment and get bedbugs themselves. Perhaps they too will move. And thus the epidemic.

I think most people react with horror and disbelief the moment they get bites after a PCO treatment. When that happens over and over again, can you blame them for wanting out? And deciding how many treatments constitute failure before ~~giving up~~ examining the remaining options must be a very personal process.

I understand your concern for the people who cannot move and for the people who don’t have the resources to fight, but you are making unwarranted assumptions about the people who do opt out, as you put it. I can assure you that wealth and resources and ‘lack of concern’ are all things that you are imputing to him and perhaps to others. Is that the case? If you personally knew him or me, then you might be able to say.

Not everyone is willing to sacrifice their own health and happiness in an interminable fight against bedbugs. Some situations and some buildings are lost causes. The people who can leave, will. When they leave, their apartments will be rented in a cycle until there are tenants who don’t care or don’t have the resources to move out. Unfair? You bet.

But I propose that in a truly intractable situation, there is no honor in staying. There is only misery. To pretend otherwise is to be willfully blind to your own rights to safety and happiness. It’s meaningless self-sacrifice.

And who speaks for those burdened with bedbugs? Don’t we all, here, every day?

By: parakeets

parakeets — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:15:08 +0000

It was only “Day 52″ and he decides to leave? Luckily he has the money, time and other resources to move, and also doesn’t seem too concerned about moving while he still has an active bedbug infestation. But somehow I wish solving the bedbug problem (in his case–did he really solve it?) wouldn’t be dependent on factors such as his wallet and wealth of other resources. He was a spokesman. How are the poor in public housing and such going to solve it when they face the same problem? What about people who can’t afford to move? What about people who hardly have the time to bag and bag and bag, let alone wash and wash and wash, and replace items that have to be tossed? Who speaks for those burdened with bedbugs? This guy has opted out.

By: hopelessnomo

hopelessnomo — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 03:30:35 +0000

I’m hopelessly biased but I’m convinced that treating in the new apartment is the way to do it.

We are often told, and we tell others, although I think I’m going to stop doing that, that one can opt for commodity fumigation (Vikane) but even that is in no way foolproof.

I hope he makes it! He’s done an incredibly service to all of us by writing about his bedbug troubles.