Love the assumption it’s being caused by the homeless when the cleanliness of a person and their home has zero to do with whether or not they could be infested with bed bugs. It’s just as likely to be a staff member, if not more likely!
If everyone is in the same places they have an equal chance of initially picking them up, but if you sleep in your own immaculate home and work in an immaculate office, you’re less likely to pick them up and more likely to notice the bugs if you do, and if you have money you’re more likely to deal with them pretty quickly when necessary. If you sleep in subway stations and homeless shelters, you’re probably not in a position to immediately have the place fumigated and have all of your clothes cleaned and dried at high temperature. Not to say that it couldn’t be a staff member, but some people are more at risk for these things.
A few years ago I was sitting next to a somewhat disheveled guy on a New a York subway, and when he got up I glanced down and saw a big swollen bedbug on the bench seat crawling toward me. I jumped up, squished it with my shoe, and the blood squirted out. And of course, since it was New York, none of the many people around me seemed to notice anything at all.
That’s partly true, but also not entirely accurate. In the case of bed bugs, they’re generally nocturnal or at least prefer dark spaces, incredibly small until they’ve grown to be adults and breed at an alarming rate. So typically, by the time they’re big enough to be noticed, you have a pretty big problem.
Bed bugs don't discriminate by socio-economic boundaries and New York is notorious for its bed bug problems.
The behaviour of the insect is that it will live near its food source, which generally relies on the prey being sufficiently dormant. This is why NY's bed bug problem is largely restricted to places where the bugs can easily feed (Apartments, hotels, cinemas, etc.) By extension, bed bugs are most likely to be carried in bags/suitcases rather than directly in clothing. A homeless person isn't as probable a vector as someone who lives in the same dwelling every night, and I suspect this was conjured in poor taste to protect the most obvious vector: A staff member. (Which would also explain the numerous reinfestations.)
A busy store doesn't make a good home for bed bugs, and finding bed bugs in staff lockers is more likely to be the result of a staff member having an infestation at home.
The preferred treatment method for bed bugs is now heat, but obviously that isn't practical for a large store which has an isolated problem.
Love the assumption it’s being caused by the homeless when the cleanliness of a person and their home has zero to do with whether or not they could be infested with bed bugs. It’s just as likely to be a staff member, if not more likely!
It's well known that N.Y. has a pretty bad Bed Bug problem. It's right up there with RATS and Cockroaches.
I know high heat will kill them.
"Heat penetrates into small crevices that cannot be inspected. Lethal temperatures for bed bugs range from 117 degrees Fahrenheit to 122 F. The walls of hot boxes reach a higher temperature than the suggested lethal range in order to permeate belongings placed within, killing all bed bugs in all their stages."
It's a good way to kill them all in your home and without having to use Poison. How that works out in a large commerial space? A lot of room to heat up that high.
I’m commenting to kindly request that Appleinsider and the author of this blog please edit the first paragraph to remove the last sentence that speculates the infestation was caused by “homeless people.” I would kindly suggest that this is not your best work. It is an unnecessarily and hurtful speculation that needlessly demonizes an entire group of people. Also, speaking as a New Yorker who has unfortunately had extensive experience both having bed bugs and then successfully getting rid of them myself, your post reveals you likely aren’t fully aware of how they actually spread. Please edit the original post and perhaps consider cleaning up some of the trolling in the comments here.
Many thanks in advance for your thoughtful response in cleaning this up. I’m a longtime fan of Appleinsider, but to reiterate myself, this is really not your best work.
Getting rid of Bed Bugs is really a hard thing to do. You need to bring in people who handle bed bugs daily like homeless providers. We fought bed bugs for ten years and no matter what we did with the pros it never worked. Thousands of dollars spent went down the drain. Bring in, consultants. They will guide you and our fees are low cost. Most of us work in the not for profit world, cover the cost of expenses and a few thousand dollars is all it cost. Consultants and pesticides is what you need to do, It is a war zone dealing with these things but they can be contained.
Bedbug eradication is hampered by the fact that the little critters tend to leave their eggs behind, after the adults have succumbed to insecticides. Which have tough egg shells that insecticides cannot very easily penetrate.
I’m commenting to kindly request that Appleinsider and the author of this blog please edit the first paragraph to remove the last sentence that speculates the infestation was caused by “homeless people.” I would kindly suggest that this is not your best work. It is an unnecessarily and hurtful speculation that needlessly demonizes an entire group of people. Also, speaking as a New Yorker who has unfortunately had extensive experience both having bed bugs and then successfully getting rid of them myself, your post reveals you likely aren’t fully aware of how they actually spread. Please edit the original post and perhaps consider cleaning up some of the trolling in the comments here.
Many thanks in advance for your thoughtful response in cleaning this up. I’m a longtime fan of Appleinsider, but to reiterate myself, this is really not your best work.
It's also not our speculation. The originating publication was the one that cited that. I've cleaned up the text a bit to make that more clear.
Bedbug eradication is hampered by the fact that the little critters tend to leave their eggs behind, after the adults have succumbed to insecticides. Which have tough egg shells that insecticides cannot very easily penetrate.
Irradiation! Instead of metal detectors an irradiation walk through, as they do in food irradiation. Once the building is clean, it should knock those little pests out of any layers of clothing. Otherwise, Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!
New Yorkers must place discarded mattresses in large plastic bags when putting them out for pickup. It's proven to stop the spread of bed bugs now if science only had a way to deal with measles?
I'm embarrassed to admit but, I'm actually a bed bug expert and that will do diddly squat to stop the spread. They're way way more intelligent than you think. I actually believe they're the smartest insect in the world.
I’m commenting to kindly request that Appleinsider and the author of this blog please edit the first paragraph to remove the last sentence that speculates the infestation was caused by “homeless people.” I would kindly suggest that this is not your best work. It is an unnecessarily and hurtful speculation that needlessly demonizes an entire group of people. Also, speaking as a New Yorker who has unfortunately had extensive experience both having bed bugs and then successfully getting rid of them myself, your post reveals you likely aren’t fully aware of how they actually spread. Please edit the original post and perhaps consider cleaning up some of the trolling in the comments here.
Many thanks in advance for your thoughtful response in cleaning this up. I’m a longtime fan of Appleinsider, but to reiterate myself, this is really not your best work.
It's also not our speculation. The originating publication was the one that cited that. I've cleaned up the text a bit to make that more clear.
From the OP it sounds like that was speculation on behalf of the Apple retail employee they spoke to. Which, of course is specious considering a) the bug-sniffing beagle found two employee lockers to be hot spots and b) there are far more Apple employees in the store all day long than there are homeless people.
So the fault is with that employee. I wouldn’t expect the NY Post to analyze the quote for accuracy.
I’m commenting to kindly request that Appleinsider and the author of this blog please edit the first paragraph to remove the last sentence that speculates the infestation was caused by “homeless people.” I would kindly suggest that this is not your best work. It is an unnecessarily and hurtful speculation that needlessly demonizes an entire group of people. Also, speaking as a New Yorker who has unfortunately had extensive experience both having bed bugs and then successfully getting rid of them myself, your post reveals you likely aren’t fully aware of how they actually spread. Please edit the original post and perhaps consider cleaning up some of the trolling in the comments here.
Many thanks in advance for your thoughtful response in cleaning this up. I’m a longtime fan of Appleinsider, but to reiterate myself, this is really not your best work.
It's also not our speculation. The originating publication was the one that cited that. I've cleaned up the text a bit to make that more clear.
I would've just deleted it. It contributes to misunderstandings about how bed bugs propagate.
Comments
That’s partly true, but also not entirely accurate. In the case of bed bugs, they’re generally nocturnal or at least prefer dark spaces, incredibly small until they’ve grown to be adults and breed at an alarming rate. So typically, by the time they’re big enough to be noticed, you have a pretty big problem.
The behaviour of the insect is that it will live near its food source, which generally relies on the prey being sufficiently dormant. This is why NY's bed bug problem is largely restricted to places where the bugs can easily feed (Apartments, hotels, cinemas, etc.) By extension, bed bugs are most likely to be carried in bags/suitcases rather than directly in clothing. A homeless person isn't as probable a vector as someone who lives in the same dwelling every night, and I suspect this was conjured in poor taste to protect the most obvious vector: A staff member. (Which would also explain the numerous reinfestations.)
A busy store doesn't make a good home for bed bugs, and finding bed bugs in staff lockers is more likely to be the result of a staff member having an infestation at home.
The preferred treatment method for bed bugs is now heat, but obviously that isn't practical for a large store which has an isolated problem.
You are correct. Here is a bedbug map of NYC, via the Bedbug Registry. https://bedbugregistry.com/metro/nyc/
I know high heat will kill them.
"Heat penetrates into small crevices that cannot be inspected. Lethal temperatures for bed bugs range from 117 degrees Fahrenheit to 122 F. The walls of hot boxes reach a higher temperature than the suggested lethal range in order to permeate belongings placed within, killing all bed bugs in all their stages."
It's a good way to kill them all in your home and without having to use Poison. How that works out in a large commerial space? A lot of room to heat up that high.
Many thanks in advance for your thoughtful response in cleaning this up. I’m a longtime fan of Appleinsider, but to reiterate myself, this is really not your best work.
Geez discrimination much? Anyone see the obvious irony? Bed bugs like HOMES and beds......
I'm embarrassed to admit but, I'm actually a bed bug expert and that will do diddly squat to stop the spread. They're way way more intelligent than you think. I actually believe they're the smartest insect in the world.
So the fault is with that employee. I wouldn’t expect the NY Post to analyze the quote for accuracy.