Renee of New York vs. Bed Bugs called to find out what it’s like to call the New York City 311 help line and report bed bugs, now that bed bugs are their own separate category in terms of 311 complaints.  Renee writes,

I called 311 to see if anything was new in how the actual calls were handled and a nice guy named Joseph walked me through what they’re doing. Basically, it’s the same but there was a certain efficiency to this call and no more “bed bugs? did you say bed bugs?” It’s still a complaint process that’s routed to HPD or NYCHA, and a call transfer to the Health Department if the caller wants the bed bug fact sheet. Interestingly, they’re now also taking complaints for subways (it’s a script for rats, mice and bed bugs or conditions conducive to the same), and that call gets routed to the MTA.

That’s huge. Good to hear.

Now, can they meet the demand of bed bug inspections?

I know you’ll want to check out “311 finally has bed bug category” at New York vs Bed Bugs.Similar Posts:

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In an article in Newsday last week, Dave Mejias (D-Farmingdale) was cited as saying bed bugs were migrating to Nassau County, Long Island from eastern Queens.

On Long Island, infestations are increasing in Nassau County, officials said. The exact number of complaints logged by the county’s Health Department was unavailable. Bedbug calls are listed in a category called “commensal pests” and aren’t separated or tracked, an agency spokesman said.

Legis. Dave Mejias (D-Farmingdale) believes the reddish, six-legged bloodsuckers are migrating from eastern Queens into Nassau, although experts have said the problem already existed on Long Island.

In the city, many complaints come from Brooklyn. However, it’s a citywide problem, said Seth Donlin, spokesman for the housing, preservation and development department. “It’s not only one part of the city that’s really seeing an increase,” he said.

(Emphasis mine.)

Bed bugs are a citywide problem.  They’re also a state-wide, region-wide and country-wide problem.

We have heard the claim made before that Queens may have been one of the places bed bugs first took root in New York City.  Entomologist Gil Bloom told the Queens Tribune in December 2006 that

“We started to notice [bed bugs] in 1999 or so. I will say that Queens is one the early epicenters. Astoria is probably one of the early epicenters in this area,” he said.

(Emphasis mine.)

Saying Astoria was one of the epicenters is not the same as saying Queens was “ground zero” for bed bugs (as the same article’s title alleged).

Saying Long Island is getting bed bugs from eastern Queens seems like a stretch: as the article notes, people in Long Island have had bed bugs for a long time.  Bed bugs are not being tracked there, so no records really exist.

I am wondering if there is some study out there that Mejia is privy to — one that tracks bed bugs as they hitchhike (march?) from Jackson Heights or Jamaica, Queens to Nassau County.

I am visualizing little bed bug ankle tags, and entomologists hunched over microscopes, reading little tiny numbers off their ankles.

(Oh, I just know I am going to get commenters telling me bed bugs do not have ankles.)

Bed bugs aren’t squirrels or monarch butterflies (sadly).  Sure, they can walk, but they don’t have to migrate by their own steam, walking or flying from county to county.

They can easily hitchhike, catching a ride on people and their possessions: from Manhattan to Old Westbury, from Orlando to Hicksville, from London to Garden City.

And in the other direction.

They can travel with you on purses and in backpacks and suitcases, even in a pocket or trouser cuff, from fine restaurants, movie theaters, ivy league colleges, hotels, resorts, and clothing stores, that clean-looking commuter train you rode home on this morning.

The key word there is you. They can hitch a ride with you, oh people who travel to and from Long Island.

They probably came to Nassau County like they came to eastern Queens, Chicago, Vancouver, Prince Edward Island; like they came to Maya Rudolph’s former loft, to Ralph Lauren’s design studio, to the most prestigious law firms in New York City, Stanford University, the finest hotels in London, the trains of Thailand and France.

They came with people.

I fear that the Nassau County Legislator is associating bed bugs with the big, dirty city.  Make no mistake: bed bugs can and will come home with you from anywhere.Similar Posts:

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The Staten Island Advance reported today that P.S.16 in Staten Island has a bed bug problem. They’ve had two treatments and the bed bugs persist. And it sounds like a fairly serious problem:

The creepy crawlies have been seen at PS 16 in the borough’s Tompkinsville community for several weeks now and exterminators have already visited the school twice, parents and education officials said.

“But this is still a continuous problem,” Ms. Guzman said. “I don’t know what’s going on. All I know is my child is putting her coat in her bookbag and the school had to get rid of puppets and lots of classroom supplies, even snacks.”

Nevertheless a New York City Department of Education official played it down:

Margie Feinberg, a DOE spokeswoman, said the Department was in the process of analyzing the specimens and that pest control went to the school yesterday.

“This is not a health issue but a nuisance issue,” Ms. Feinberg said. “Bed bugs do not carry disease. They are usually brought into the building on heavy clothing. We are looking into the matter.”

Though not yet known to spread infectious disease, bed bugs are nevertheless a health concern. The World Health Organization sure thinks so.

An even more immediate concern may be the costs of treating for bed bugs carried by so many, including parents whose kids may bring bed bugs home from school, or their landlords.

Back in January, Seth Donlin of the New York City Department of Housing, Preservation, and Development (HPD) told the Daily News,

“The Bronx had the second-lowest number of complaints last year,” said Seth Donlin of the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which keeps track of such calls to the city’s 311 hotline.

“It’s the lowest total after Staten Island, which is statistically insignificant,” Donlin said.

So Staten Island had the lowest number of complaints to 311 about bed bugs last year. It sounds like plenty of people in Staten Island are suffering now. One thing bed bugs do well is spread. Quickly.

Unless those bugs took the ferry in to school, or drove over the Verrazano Bridge, they may have come to P.S.16 with someone who lives in Staten Island. You can bet they’re probably going home with someone who lives in Staten Island.

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When a representative from the New York City Housing and Preservation Department told attendees of a bed bug seminar last spring that five NYC subway stations had had bed bugs, Miss Heather blogged about it, and the story was picked up by the mainstream press as well as every blogger and her brother. (You can see links to some of the places the news was reported here.)

The MTA said they’d look into it and the HPD acted like they had no knowledge of this. Still, lots of people looked a little more suspiciously at those wooden subway benches, as well they ought. Experts tell us that bed bugs are prone to infest public transportation, as a general rule.

Now consider for a moment, the curbside refuse of this great city, which is also quite likely to be infested by bed bugs. Bed bugs are in every neighborhood and it seems like the incidence of tossed out mattresses and chairs has gone way up.

chairs

Originally uploaded by t. van gieson

People have always sought out “curbside bargains” like free chairs, tables, and mattresses. It’s considered frugal and green, and what could be better in the days of global warming and the crashing stock market?

I’ll tell you what’s better: avoiding bed bugs. Forget the discomfort of bed bug bites, for a moment, which many will never even notice. Those who’ve never experienced bed bugs have no idea how much money they eat up (even if you aren’t the one footing the bill for pest control) and how much of a strain the average infestation is on the environment when you factor in the extra laundry (electricity and water) and plastic bags alone. Before you even talk about replacing some of your stuff and having someone spray pesticides over and over and over.

So, I want to stress that I have mad respect for Idealist.org and their cool Idealist in NYC blog. But I have to stress, in the name of sanity, do not do as the Idealist in NYC blog tells you plans to, and try and help tired people find somewhere to sit in the subway by donating curbside chairs. Do not, as the Idealist in NYC blogger cellyham pleads says, “chip in by salvaging chairs from trash piles, cleaning them up and reusing them in one of the hundreds of stations across the city.” Idealist got the idea from this “Dude”.

Idealist in NYC blogger cellyham has apparently thought of and dismissed the potential for bed bugs:

Skeptics also point out the potential for bedbugs and other such creatures. I’ve had my fair share of experiences with creepy crawlers, and I’ll chance another encounter for a shot at comfort any day. But that’s just me. What do you think?

All I can say is, think again. Anyone who is willing to “chance an encounter” with bed bugs does not know enough about them or what they do, even in a small infestation.

Oh yeah, and the chance of bed bugs on those “donated” chairs in the subway? It doesn’t just amount to you bringing the bed bugs into your digs when you rescue the chair from the curb and clean it up at home.

It also stems from the danger of getting bed bugs that have crawled into a chair in someone’s home. The Take a Seat idea’s originator has a nice google map showing where people have placed these chairs so far, and they include some of the most bedbug-infested areas of Brooklyn and Queens, as well as many Manhattan stations.

Part of the problem with bed bugs is that most people really do not get (a) how easy it is to just “pick them up” somewhere, or (b) what a pain in the — they really are.

One thing you can do, dear reader with bed bugs, is tell all of your close friends, slowly and repeatedly, so they get it, that bed bugs are easy to get (in fact, you need do nothing, as they may come to you), that there are ways to avoid them, and that you would not wish them on your worst enemies. Tell them. Make sure no one you know thinks bed bugs are just another “creepy crawler.”Similar Posts:

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I am delighted to report this news item from Patrick Meighan of the Nashua Telegraph in Nashua, New Hampshire. It’s a story about how Nashua city Health Officer Nelson Ortega and Deputy Health Officer Heidi Peek spent 4 and a half hours inspecting all 117 rooms in a rooming house in Nashua, and found 16 of them infested with bed bugs.

The inspection was prompted by tenants’ complaints to the health department. However, Ortega expected to–and found–that many more units were infested than the number of people who complained.

Complaints about bugs at 23-25 Temple St. prompted the inspection, Ortega said.

Given the tenant complaints his office received, Ortega said he expected the infestation to be even more widespread than what inspectors found.

“Sixteen is still a significant number,” Ortega said. “If they don’t hurry up and deal with it, it’s going to keep growing.”

He added, “the minute we left, they should be calling the pest companies.”

The building’s owner, 23-25 Temple Street Realty LLC, is expected to have exterminators come in as soon as possible, Ortega said. They’re required to spray not only the infected rooms, but also the adjacent rooms and the rooms directly above and below, he said.

Because the 16 rooms were scattered throughout, most of the building will have to be treated, Ortega said.

The owners also have 35 days to correct general maintenance violations, which range from the illegal use of extension cords and hotplates to unsanitary toilets and covers missing on wall outlets, Ortega said.

Health officials will do a follow-up inspection after the building owner has had time to spray for pests and correct the violations, he said.

I wish that all health officials were as wise to bed bugs, and as proactive as these.

I also wish every building owner (whether it’s a hotel, apartment building, rooming house, or whatever) would read this. All too often, people try to get away with treating only the units of people who notice and complain about bed bugs. And in such cases, they will often find bed bugs popping up again and again.

I am also glad to see this because it shows a case where people with bed bugs called a health department and got some action. Readers often tell us their landlords are not dealing with bed bugs, and they don’t know what to do. Or if their landlord is helping them, the problem is still hard to treat.

Well, even though your city health officer may not be as clued in about bed bugs as Nelson Ortega is, why not give them a call?

Cities and counties do not realize how many people have bed bugs unless you tell them. So please, consider googling your city or county health department and giving them a buzz.

And a reminder to tenants, landlords, and government officials alike, anywhere: take a hint from Nashua Deputy Health Officer Heidi Peek, who is quoted in the article as saying:

“The reason I really wanted to get in there, I had a hunch there were people who weren’t reporting (bedbugs) – which we found to be true.”

At least 50% of people bitten by bed bugs do not react to the bites, according to Michael Potter.

Many of these will have no idea they have them.

Many more will know they have them but fear being blamed and not report it.

Still others will simply put up with the situation (unbelieveable, yes, but we hear it time and again).

Do not assume people are bed bug-free simply because they say they are.

And certainly do not assume they are bed bug-free simply because they do not call a city information hotline.

Especially if calling a city information hotline is the least intuitive thing for them to do, as in the case of NYC tenants with bed bugs. Do you hear that, New York City HPD? If you want people in NYC to call a number to tell you they have bed bugs. You have to tell them to do it.Similar Posts:

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The first of three bed bug seminars planned by the city of New York happened last night. NBC Channel 4 did a brief recap on the 11 o’clock news, but video is not available from wnbc.com as of this writing.

Bedbugger was not on the scene, unfortunately, but we did get some eyewitness reports.

Our source noted that there was useful information shared, but questioned whether the audience wouldn’t be better served if the presenters had a more intimate and extensive knowledge of bed bugs. (The program was scheduled to be led by Elise Shin and Henny Calle. We understand Calle has done previous presentations on lead and other building safety issues.)

This is New York, home to many bed bug experts–people I’ve found to be very helpful and approachable. Why were none of them involved in these proceedings? From what I can gather, they weren’t asked.

It sounds like there could have been more scientific data in evidence, particularly in regard to what was said about pesticides.

Apparently they also showed slides of bites and tried to advise people on identifying them–something that is not possible. Was this made clear? Perhaps someone can report on that.

Rather than lasting the scheduled two hours from 6-8pm, our source said it started at 6:40 and ended by 7:30–thus using 50 out of a scheduled 120 minutes. Perhaps if some experts with more bed bug knowledge were involved, the program would be richer. People expected to come for two hours, so why not use the time well?

A second report came via crawledon, a Bedbugger on the forums. crawledon reports:

I was extremely disappointed with the meeting last night. During the first part, the “educator” basically read information that had been handed out and added a tiny bit of commentary making it quite clear that she never lived through an infestation and also didn’t really know much about the subject. I think I remember her stating that bb’s can live for almost a year without a blood meal. Someone called out, “18 months!” Our educator quipped, “let’s be optimistic.” First she was inaccurate, then joked about it without correcting herself. The Q&A portion was even more ridiculous because she couldn’t really answer the questions. It was frustrating because I recognized many experts in the audience and frankly, they should have been running the show. At the very least, I wished they would have answered the questions.

The main focus was on being able to identify a [bed bug] and where to look for them. Then she talked about integrated pest management where she went on to read that tenants need to declutter, should use a stiff brush to scrape eggs off of mattresses, etc., and how we can caulk holes in walls and floors. The literature that had been passed out said the tenants can find these supplies in the hardware store. This made me very, very angry because quite frankly, it is not our job to go and buy supplies so that we, the tenants can seal up harborages, although we often wind up doing it so it gets done.

crawledon reports that at its close, the event became commercial: “like a convention hall:”

There were many businesses represented, PCOs, PCOs with dogs, salespeople from PCO companies, people wanting to come and ozone your home. . . they all descended upon the tenants, handing out business cards trying to sell their wares. We need these people and appreciate their presence but I wish more [landlords] had been present. They’re the ones that should buy these wares, not the tenants.

Finally, Channel 4 covered the seminar. They stated on their newscast that although it’s not recommended, one can do their own pest control, and listed some of the things our “educator” listed in the “integrated pest control” portion of her talk. If NBC came away thinking we can do this, what did the public come away with?

Finally, crawledon suggests that

The only good this seminar provided was now tenants can better identify a [bed bug]. But ultimately, this seminar and the newscast that followed it might have done more harm than good.

You can read the rest of crawledon’s comments here.

Thanks to our anonymous witness and crawledon for their reports. This is, unfortunately, kind of what I expected, knowing that local experts were not involved in the presentation.

The city needs to smarten up before their next bed bug seminar. Many of the people attending are people with bed bugs, or with neighbors who have them. Others are landlords or social workers or others whose jobs involve getting rid of bed bugs. They may (in many cases) know more about bed bugs than the presenters, and they need more than an introduction to the problem, they need help.

The city needs to do much more than offer a few 50-minute beginner’s bed bug identification classes. We should recall the words of Michael Potter, one of the foremost bed bug experts, at a Pest Control Technology event last August, a true “bed bug seminar”:

“If there is a classic example of why you don’t eliminate entire classes of pesticides,” Potter said, “bed bugs are it. We’re in a heap of trouble in terms of the products we have available to fight this pest,” citing several classes of chemistry that are no longer available (e.g., organophosphates, carbamates, etc.) and the growing threat of pyrethroid resistance. As a result, he said, “I don’t see how this problem is going to get better. I think it’s going to get chaotic. This is the most challenging pest I’ve encountered in my career. We’re in big trouble.”

If this pest has presented the biggest challenge of his career, to a leading entomologist, then perhaps the City of New York needs to consider going further than the albeit important step of showing a few New Yorkers what bed bugs look like.

Bed bug experts have told us that some of those classes of pesticides might be used, cautiously and with restrictions, to more efficiently eradicate a bed bug infestation, and city officials should be lobbying for this.

The city does need an education campaign, but it should be designed with the assistance of the best bed bug experts available to us. And it should be disseminated through television specials, newspaper ads, and bus shelter and subway ads. Not through a 50-minute program you have to RSVP for.

And any education campaign is just the beginning.

If you attended the seminar, or have feedback on the above, please comment below!

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