“How did these little buggers infiltrate my immaculate home?” This is the most common question; especially, if you live in a detached house. My son works for us part-time and he knows…everywhere is suspect! Movie theatres, restaurants with comfie couches, waiting rooms, airplanes, hotel rooms and so on. Anywhere there are people there is a possibility to be exposed to bed bugs.
It is our own fault. No one likes to talk about it. It is the big taboo of the new millennium. Research says that in 5 years 1in 6 people will have some type of direct relationship with bed bugs. This maybe a family member or personally but no one is immune.
Last year my daughter was in residence at a great University. Her girlfriend on the floor below had been called into a meeting; one of the rooms had confirmed bed bugs. It was “strongly implied” that they should keep it on the QT. I contacted the school to ask what their protocol was. It took 3 emails and a personal call to get a response, which by the way was just lip service. I was assured the incident was limited to one room-yah, right-and that their PCO was contacted, blah-blah blah. I was assured that all the rooms would be treated over the Christmas break. Please… the floor wasn’t even vacuumed! And that is another thing; the entire residence shares the vacuum, no cross contamination there.
Every kid in that residence pays over 10k for 8 months and they are the so called “nice” people. Not mentally ill, under privileged or whatever stigma we want to attach to the unfortunate individuals who find themselves with bedbugs. They come from good homes that likely had to deal with a bedbug problem over the summer.
No one gets a pass when it comes to bedbugs. If you have red blood and breathe, you are a good candidate. We need to start accepting this and talking about it so we can find a solution before our aging population moves into more multi dwelling residences. Cause I gotta tell you, it is one thing for my teenage daughter to deal with bedbugs, it is quite another for my 90 year old father!
