Category Archives: Bed Bugs New York

You could be traveling with some unwanted passengers during your commute. Can you bring them home with you or is it a myth.

Bed bugs are one of the most resilient bugs in the country. It's no surprise that they can travel in their owners belongings and make it on board a train. Am I the only one who's mad that they don't have to pay?

According to the New York Post, MTA subway trains in Queens were delayed recently because of bed bug sightings in the control tower.

The pest control website, Rest Easy Pest Control warns about the dangers of attracting unwanted parasites on a commuter train. According to their site, yes, bed bugs can travel and live on a train but the odds of themstay permanently are not likelyas they need to feed off people to survive. However, the odds of someone transferring bed bugs on a train, bus, or any form of public transportation isabsolutely possible.

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Can You Catch Bed Bugs On the Train? - Hudson Valley Post

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. A big chunk of the New York City subway system was brought to a standstill the other day, stranding thousands upon thousands of riders.

No, there wasnt a derailment. Or a person on the tracks. Or a power failure. Or some problem with the ancient signal system.

It wasnt the resignation of NYC Transit president Andy Byford sending a shock wave through the system.

It was bed bugs.

Well, it was one bed bug, which a transit worker noticed at a subway control tower in Queens.

The tower had to be evacuated, affecting service on the E, F, M and R lines for hours, until the premises could be fumigated. Without personnel in the tower, the trains just couldnt be turned around in a timely fashion.

One bed bug? My gut tells me that if youve got one bed bug, youve got more. But the point is how easily a major portion of the subway system can be disrupted.

The bed bug that roared, bringing a whole transit system to its knees. Protestors and terrorists take note!

While even the cleanest places can have bed bugs, its just disgusting that any one of us could find one of those creepy crawlers on the subway. And bring it back to our own homes. Whom do I sue if the MTA causes a bed bug infestation in my house?

When we get all those billions of dollars for the subways from congestion pricing, maybe we should build some redundancies into the system, so that if one control tower goes out of service, theres another facility ready to pick up the slack.

The Queens bed bug stoppage came a day after a dead homeless man was discovered on the D train, covered in bed bugs.

So it looks like the subway has a bed bug problem. And the city overall has a problem when people are being found dead on the subway system. That speaks to a whole host of problems, in fact.

Also last week, the Patrolmens Benevolent Association tweeted out a video of a subway car entirely covered with graffiti.

Theres nothing that screams city on the wrong track more than when subway cars again become rolling canvases for graffiti vandals. Or artists, depending on your viewpoint and your age.

Its not the first time weve seen a graffiti train recently. So it looks like the trend of tagging subway cars with graffiti is making a comeback after being pretty much eradicated in the 1990s.

I know I sound like a get off my damn lawn guy here, but believe me when I tell you that graffiti always looks more colorful and artsy when its not in your own neighborhood. Or when you dont have to sit on a subway seat or ferry bench that looks wet with spray paint.

And by the way? Not every graffiti vandal was a subway Picasso. A lot of them were pretty lousy painters.

This should be a problem easy enough to address, as most of the graffiti vandalism takes place while the subway cars are at rest in storage yards, not when theyre actually rolling on the tracks. Lets increase efforts to crack down on these crimes, and to punish those caught doing it. If our newly progressive criminal justice system will allow it, that is. I have my doubts.

So, yeah, lets ring the bad old days bell again. Because its getting too darn easy to see the signs for ourselves without even looking.

Sure, the gritty, downtown, punk-rock, no-wave 1980s produced a lot of great art, music and fashion. But it was also a dirty and dangerous time to live in New York City.

We dont want to go back there again. Believe me.

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Graffiti trains, subway bed bugs more signs of a city on the wrong track (opinion) - SILive.com

Its enough to make your skin crawl.

A dead homeless man was found covered in bed bugs on an uptown D train Tuesday night, according to police sources.

Straphangers reported the grisly discovery and alerted police when the train pulled into Manhattans 59th Street-Columbus Circle station around 8:40 p.m., sources said.

The man was pronounced dead on the scene, sources said. It was unclear how long he had been dead.

Police are trying to identify the man, who is believed to be in his 40s, and they did not expect foul play.

The medical examiner will determine the cause of death.

The death was reported the same day the city released data on its six-month-old program aimed at getting homeless subway dwellers into shelters. The project has only experienced a 36.8 percent take-up rate, according to the city.

Reports of dead bodies on the trains typically increase during the winter when more homeless New Yorkers head underground, the union representing transit workers told the Post.

Nelson Rivera, administrative vice president for the union, Transport Workers Union Local 100, said the city has been failing to adequately address the homeless crisis, leaving workers and riders to deal with occasionally traumatizing discoveries.

Its a sad situation every winter this is prevalent because you have people seeking shelter on the trains, Rivera said. But the police come to take these people and there are no resources and nowhere to take them. They get bounced around.

A rider had first flagged the D trains conductor about the body, who then called in the corpse to the MTAs Rail Control Center, according to a union source.

At that point, it wasnt clear if the person was still alive.

The conductor said he couldnt tell and he wasnt going to touch him, the source said.

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Dead homeless man found covered in bed bugs on subway train - New York Post

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ST. LOUIS -The bad news for people who live in St. Louis, the city still remains in the Top 50 of the most bed-bug infested cities in the country.

So which cities have it the worst when it comes to these bloodsuckers? Pest control company Orkin released its list of top 50-cities for bed bugs and it seems Washington, DC is also the capital of bedbugs. Baltimore ranked second on the list followed by Chicago and Los Angeles.

St. Louis ranked 28th which is well below other large metro cities like Cleveland ranking in the Top 11 on the list.

Orkin says bed bugs travel easily from place to place in items like luggage and purses with hotels spending an average of $63,000 dollars per bedbug incident.

Orkinsays it bases its list on the number of residential and commercial treatments in metro areas.

The Top 15 cities, according to Orkin, are:

1. Washington, D.C.

2. Baltimore

3. Chicago

4. Los Angeles

5. Columbus

6. New York

7. Detroit

8. Cincinnati

9. Indianapolis

10. Atlanta

11. Cleveland

12. Philadelphia

13. San Francisco

14. Raleigh, NC

15. Norfolk

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Heres where St. Louis ranks in top bed-bug infested cities - KTVI Fox 2 St. Louis

Washington, D.C. beat Baltimore this year for the top spot on Orkin's 2020 bed bug cities list Got bugs? Many cities do, if it is bed bugs that are the target. Washington, D.C. is ringing in the new decade as the number one city on Orkin's Top 50 Bed Bug Cities list, topping Baltimore, which fell to the second spot after three years as the frontrunner. And this year, Indianapolis joined the top of the list.

Flint saw the biggest jump moving 16 spots to number 31 after only joining the list in 2018. Pittsburgh and Champaign both broke into the top 20, and Myrtle Beach and Toledo joined the top 50 list for the first time.

The list is based on treatment data from the metro areas where Orkin performed the most bed bug treatments from December 1, 2018 November 30, 2019. The ranking includes both residential and commercial treatments.

1. Washington, D.C. 2. Baltimore 3. Chicago 4. Los Angeles 5. Columbus, OH 6. New York 7. Detroit 8. Cincinnati 9. Indianapolis 10. Atlanta 11. Cleveland, OH 12. Philadelphia 13. San Francisco 14. Raleigh, NC 15. Norfolk 16. Champaign, IL 17. Dallas 18. Grand Rapids 19. Pittsburgh 20. Charlotte 21. Richmond, VA 22. Greenville, SC 23. Knoxville, TN 24. Buffalo, NY 25. Greensboro, NC 26. Charleston, WV 27. Denver 28. St. Louis 29. Nashville 30. Lansing 31. Flint 32. Miami 33. Milwaukee 34.Tampa 35. Omaha 36. Orlando 37. Davenport, IA 38. Houston 39. Syracuse 40. Boston 41. Cedar Rapids, IA 42. Myrtle Beach (new to list) 43. Seattle 44. San Diego 45. Phoenix 46. Fort Wayne, IN 47. Las Vegas 48. Hartford, CT 49. Dayton, OH 50. Toledo, OH (new to list)

"While bed bugs have not been found to transmit any diseases to humans, they can be an elusive threat to households," said Chelle Hartzer, an Orkin entomologist. "They are excellent hitchhikers, and they reproduce quickly which make it nearly impossible to prevent bed bugs. Sanitation has nothing to do with where you'll find them."

Bed bugs, which are typically 4-5 mm in length and red to dark brown in color, can travel from place to place with ease, including luggage, purses and other belongings. Normally nocturnal, bed bugs will come out of hiding to take blood meals from sleeping or quietly resting humans.

According to the 2018 "Bugs without Borders Survey" by the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), the top three places where pest professionals report finding bed bugs are single-family homes (91 percent), apartments/condominiums (89 percent) and hotels/motels (68 percent). With that, hotels spend an average of $6,383 per bed bug incident.

Bed bugs are known for rapid population growth. Females can deposit one to five eggs a day and may lay 200 to 500 eggs in their lifetime. Under normal room temperatures and with an adequate food supply, they can live for more than 300 days, often making treatment challenging.

"The key to preventing a bed bug infestation is early detection," Hartzer said. "When one or more bed bugs enter a space, we call it an introduction. During an introduction, bed bugs probably haven't started reproducing yet, but they could soon. Vigilance is key to stopping bed bugs before infestation levels."

Tell-tale signs of a bed bug introduction could include small black spots indicating bed bug feces or nymph bed bugs in places such as mattress seams, bed frames and furniture. Their small size and ability to hide make them difficult to see during the day, so it's important to look for the black, ink-like stains they can leave behind.

Here are proactive tips Orkin recommends for travelers:

During travel, remember the acronym S.L.E.E.P. to inspect for bed bugs...

Survey the hotel room for signs of an infestation. Be on the lookout for tiny, ink-colored stains on mattress seams, in soft furniture and behind headboards.

Lift and look in bed bug hiding spots: the mattress, box spring and other furniture, as well as behind baseboards, pictures and even torn wallpaper.

Elevate luggage away from the bed and wall. The safest places are in the bathroom or on counters.

Examine your luggage carefully while repacking and once you return home from a trip. Always store luggage away from the bed.

Place all dryer-safe clothing from your luggage in the dryer for at least 15 minutes at the highest setting after you return home.

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Where the Bed Bugs Roam - Business Traveler USA