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Bedbugs Strike Department Stores, Schools, EVERYWHERE!
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 25, 2010
Modified Sep 25, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 25, 2010
Modified Sep 25, 2010
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In time for the fall season, bedbugs are at New York City's department stores (checking out the new fashions) and schools (hitting the books, natch)!! Apparently Bloomingdale's had at least one bedbug on premises—the store says it was removed, it's not widespread and bedbug dogs have been checking out the store—and we just received a memo (see picture above) that Macy's sent to its employees!
The employee tells us, "I work in the office at the Macy's in Herald Square, where bedbugs were found today on the 17th floor. All of my coworkers are freaked out, and they are closing the office tonight and tomorrow for extermination/sanitation. The store will remain open. Attached is the memo we all received -- sorry for the crappy cell phone picture, but unsurprisingly we got this on paper instead of electronically." As for reaction to the Bloomingdale's bedbug, one teen told the Post, "This is disgusting -- I'm itching all over right now. I can't believe they finally made it to Bloomingdale's."
The NY Times looks at the bedbug epidemic at schools, "So far this month, the city’s 311 help line has received 22 calls about bedbugs in schools, its records show. It is unclear whether additional cases were reported by other means." The Department of Education says that no schools have been closed—"Each confirmed case is dealt with expeditiously"—but a Bedford-Stuyvesant school's teachers "said Friday that there had been multiple instances of bedbugs since the beginning of the school year." The DOE says that bedbugs seem to be a bigger problem in cooler months, "What we’ve found is that they crop up during winter time, on heavy clothing, like jackets." Oh, crap—global warming isn't sounding so bad, is it?
Tagged
bedbug dogs
bedbug epidemic
bedbugs
bloomingdale's
macy's
public schools
winter
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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