A single bedbug led to the temporary evacuation and fumigation of one floor of the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's headquarters in Long Island City, Queens, on Friday.
The episode occurred on the 19th floor of the 21-story glass-and steel Gotham Center at the corner of Queens Plaza South and 28th Street.
The agency acknowledged the presence of the bedbug, but sought to play down its significance.
“We found a single bedbug,†the agency said a statement. “There was no evidence of an infestation. We used standard procedures, including steam cleaning and vacuuming in the area, and alerted the staff.â€
Health department employees moved into the $316 million building just after it was completed last year.
“It can happen to anyone,†said Jeff Eisenberg, the author of the “Bedbug Survival Guide†and owner of Pest Away Exterminating in New Yor k City, who said the bugs can be picked up in infested homes and even taxis, then swept along onto pant legs and skirt hems. “You can't defend against the front door of your office,†he said.
The health department is the city's top resource for people seeking to deal with their own bedbug infestations, in both their homes and their offices. A section of the department's Web site is about bedbugs. It includes a page that the department itself might find useful, to “help building managers or owners of commercial buildings prevent bedbug infestations, and safely control them if they do occur.â€
While the Web site notes that the bugs bite but have not been known to spread disease, they can breed anxiety. In fact, department employees who work on the 19th floor are now “pariahs†in the Gotham Center, according to an e-mail from an employee who did not want to be identified.
Mr. Eisenberg said social exclusion after a bedbug infestation or singular si ghting, as the case may be, is common. “When someone has bedbugs, it doesn't make you very socially popular,†he said. “It doesn't make you a bad person, but nobody exactly wants to be around you.
No comments:
Post a Comment