OMG !!! BED BUGS IN NEW YORK (NYC)
At the hub of so many apocalyptic movies today, New York City has been portrayed as a metro under siege! But for two years in a row, it’s been under a new kind of attack, this time in the form of bed bugs NYC infestations. Right now, it ranks number one as the most infested city in the U.S. This certainly puts a bruise on the Big Apple’s rep, right at its core.
It appears a fear of bed bug bites has taken a bit off the shine from the Big Apple. Sadly, huge chunks of tourists and visitors are being initiated into a tarnished image of the city as a Bed Bugs Capital.
So who’s to blame for all this panic and paranoia? A new kind of threat terrorizing the citizens of New York, was it fanned by all the media hype?
Bed bug stories will surely cause mass hysteria when they’re posted in the New York Post or when they’re tweeted on Twitter. As headlines or tweets, these feeds add fire to rumors that the Family Cimicidae IS on a feeding frenzy!
If you knew this family better, they’re much too lazy for that. Sure, they’ll feed on you 3 or 4 times in a row and leave blotchy bed bugs bitepatterns on your skin. However, they’re able to go without a meal for days to weeks, until another host presents itself.
Hosted by the Bed Bugs Registry, latest stats reveal NYC has a total of 4,490 reports as of 2011.[2] A different story altogether, so many more could be unreported and undocumented!
If, indeed, the reports are true, then imagine what impact a bed bugs NYC alert would dump on the city! Will these creatures be able to scale Empire State Building or disrupt trading at Wall Street? With proof, will you cease shopping in your favorite Manhattan boutiques?
And can you imagine NYC without a trip to Bloomingdale’s or without a peek at what’s the latest with Victoria’s Secret, simply because bed bugs have scampered off with the desirability of these goods? Will you lose the fun of watching plays on Broadway and strolling through Times Square, simply because you’re not the only nocturnal creatures around?
From avid shopper and theatre-goer, are you ill-fated to play host to a number of blood-sucking parasites? A horror story, are these creatures for REAL?
In playing out this scenario, we’re really, really stretching it, we know. But in a world where anything can happen, this could become the next reality!
Fortunately, because the only constant thing in life is CHANGE, the NYC bed bugs prospect could improve for the better. The Mayor’s Office has already organized a Bed Bugs Advisory Board, and this could evolve into a full-blown Task Force. Add to that two agencies which have got this area covered. They’re the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).[3]
Despite efforts, however, there are setbacks to detecting just how rampant bed bugs in New York could be! First, low-income families with infested homes can hardly afford the costs for extermination. At the bottom rung of existence, there are still those people who pick on other’s garbage (and pick up some bed bugs along the way). In not so many words, NYC clearly has issues with unemployment, homelessness, and poverty.
As for those who can, they’re divided between reporting an infestation and keeping it a secret. Not all hotel bed bugs are reported and acted upon, lest they freak out their guests and bust their ratings. We doubt if many New Yorkers actually give word to their laundry services or dry cleaners about a bug-infested batch of items. Online or offline, our current social setting isn’t exactly one which encourages you to be friends with or to like those who have a ‘problem’ (pests included).
Hopefully, it’s mere exaggeration to say the bed bugs NYC problem could grow to epidemic proportions! In toddler stages, its recovery phase just might need a helping hand. The human race also needs to CATCH UP – to MOVE AHEAD of these creepy, crawly creatures which have gotten a head-start. When we’re no longer as embattled as the Big Apple is, please share the info and start spreading the news?
