Bedbugger recently brought us up to date on the latest news out of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio. The city and county have released a draft report of the joint bed bug task force.
The draft report is not available online as far as I can tell but Peggy O’Farrell’s report in The Cincinnati Enquirer gives us a preview of the action items in the report:
Enforcement actions aimed at making sure landlords or rental managers and tenants take steps to clear up bedbug infestations.
A system for tracking bedbug reports to give health officials an idea of the problem’s scope.
Additional training for pest-control operators to ensure they’re up to speed on proven techniques to get rid of bedbugs.
Regulations aimed at thrift stores and secondhand furniture dealers for treating furniture to ensure it isn’t infested with bedbugs. Health officials have heard complaints from consumers who’ve brought bedbugs into their home after buying used furniture.
A single bedbug “hot line” that residents of Cincinnati and Hamilton County could call to report bedbug infestations. Once the call is logged and forwarded to the appropriate health department, inspectors would have to respond to the home within a specific time period, and the homeowner or landlord would be required to take steps to get rid of the bedbugs within a specific period.
The comment period ends on April 5.
We can’t wait to read the final version of the report.
But we have to note a few more interesting things in O’Farrell’s story:
- the Cincinnati Assistant Health Commissioner said the Cincinnati Health Department received 800 bed bug complaints last year;
- the number of complaints in Hamilton County was 167.
The latest Cincinnati population estimate is 332,252. (Figuring out who does what in Cincinnati has been interesting all these months. The county administers its own public health services outside the city. In addition, the greater Cincinnati area comprises some 15 counties in 3 states. The city of Cincinnati and Hamilton county are cooperating and coordinating their bed bug battle plans. In the absence of reliable numbers, trying to compare the percentage of bed bug reports in Cincinnati and New York would be no more than an interesting exercise, so we’ll give the bed bug math thing a rest for today.)
Also:
- Cincinnati has developed a DVD and has received requests from other cities, including New York and Columbus — I wonder if this is the same video that Nobugs watched and reported on?
I am honestly thrilled that New York is reaching out to Cincinnati! Cincinnati has been seriously thinking about bed bugs for a long time.
If you want to read (yes, I definitely think you should!) the Cincinnati Department of Health report on bed bugs to the Cincinnati City Council last month, it is available here as a PDF.
Our RSS feed. If you're in NYC, check out our bed bug task force campaign. And, hey, we hope you don't have them (anymore, ever).
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