Entomologist Mike Merchant notices that Franklin County health officials are interested in preventing bed bug problems in schools and allows that bed bugs can indeed show up in schools. And yet:
What I question is the followup worry that steps need to be taken to avoid a “large scale problem” in schools. Are bed bugs really another problem that schools need to be highly concerned about? I doubt it.
Emphasis mine.
He then proceeds to say a number of things that I strongly disagree with.
As I see it, I can either argue with someone who has at least three degrees more than I do, which would be bad, very bad, or I can… argue a kind of New York City exceptionalism?
So, it’s not that Dr. Merchant is wrong (though, again, I think he is), it’s that his analysis just does not apply to us!
Let me to show you what I mean.
A) Merchant:
Since people generally do not sleep in classrooms (with possible exception of short afternoon nap times in pre-school rooms), it would be tough going for a bed bug that slipped out of a backpack into a typical classroom from an infested home.
B) A very recent news report about bed bugs at New York City’s PS 16 in Staten Island:
[NYC Department of Education spokeswoman Margie Feinberg] said the school custodian saw what looked like bedbugs in a classroom closet on Oct. 16 and the closet was sprayed Oct. 21. The next day, the school requested a follow-up visit, and pest control returned on Oct. 29 to spray the same location. Ms. Feinberg said another specimen was collected Wednesday for analysis.
C) If you know bed bugs, you know there’s more:
“I just spoke with the teacher and she’s finding babies,” [PS 16 parent] Ms. Guzman said.
And, I guess we need to say, PS 16 is not the only school in NYC where bed bugs have been found.
Everyone, and we really do mean everyone, will need to develop bed bug strategies. Sooner or later. Sooner is definitely smarter.
These pages may be of related interest:
Merchant says,
“Bed bugs are principally active in the dark (except in cases of heavy infestations–which would not be the case with the occasional, stealth introduction to a classroom). After dark they need a reliable source of blood to sustain a population and spread. Since people generally do not sleep in classrooms (with possible exception of short afternoon nap times in pre-school rooms), it would be tough going for a bed bug that slipped out of a backpack into a typical classroom from an infested home.”
I really do not understand this.
Bed bugs bite people in their homes at night because those people are sleeping or lying still long enough to be bitten. And yes, they prefer to be active at night.
We know people are also bitten in chairs, while sitting (and awake).
I get that bed bugs would prefer to bite at night, but where is the evidence that a bed bug, once introduced into a school, would encounter (as Merchant puts it) “tough going” (by this, I presume he means they will go hungry).
Who says they would not simply bite someone during daylight, while they sat in a chair? Has anyone ever actually studied whether bed bugs would go hungry rather than shift their schedules?
I know, I know.
How can there be bed bugs in buses, in offices, in, if I remember correctly, a judge’s chamber?
Also, as a general rule, it’s not a good idea to underestimate bed bugs. I know I’m always careful not to.
And it’s wrong to posit two scenarios, one of minimum awareness, and another of “panic” — there can be a third way for school officials and parents alike, and that is, for lack of a better word, competence and diligence.
Finally, I know you write about this a lot, what is with NYC and the requirement that teachers bag specimens? Quite a responsibility.
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