Bed bugs have taken New York by storm.  They have reared their ugly beaks in bedrooms, hotels, theaters, office buildings, retail stores, courtrooms, taxi cabs, and now three locations of the District Attorney’s offices.  You can’t send children to school in New York City without the fear of them bringing home blood sucking bed bugs either as the parasite has been found in many of the public schools so far this year.

Manhattan Borough President, Scott Stringer, is calling for an all out war to be waged against bed bugs in New York City.  For many residents of the city, they have already been called up to active duty in what appears to be a never ending battle against the blood sucking insects that are plaguing one of the greatest cities in the world!  Scott Stringer told the Daily News “We should deal with bedbugs the way we deal with crime spikes, and we need to do it before it gets out of control.”  Mr. Stringer’s call to arms is great news as any additional help fighting the little vampires would be welcomed by those who are suffering…but many would agree that the bed bug situation in New York City is already out of control, and has been for quite some time!

Because of the massive increase in bed bug reports over previous years within the NYC school system, Stringer considers the public school system as the frontline in the battle against bed bugs.  Stringer’s idea is to hire an army of inspectors and exterminators to search and destroy bed bugs within the schools.  Parents and teachers would likely welcome more NYC pest control specialists on site, but there is “substantial resource constraints” according to Daniel Kass, a deputy commissioner for the city Health Department.

Currently, if a bed bug is found at a NYC school, it is to be captured on a piece of tape and sent to the DOE for “confirmation”.  Sadly, many teachers claim that they have found bed bugs in their school, sent it to the DOE, but no extermination services have been provided or extermination services took weeks to arrive.  Bed bugs multiply quickly and can be transported easily, so there is a huge reason to be concerned about bed bugs within the NYC school system.

Once bed bugs are found at a NYC school, business, home, etc, it is important to have a treatment plan in place. Having a licensed NYC pest control specialist at the ready at NYC schools would be a great way to limit exposure to students, teachers, and staff as well.