NYC Bed Bug Registry Infestation Maps, Residential and Hotel

Part of anongoing serieson Holocaust survivors and partisans in Northern California

Zdenka Ruchwarger Levy, a Holocaust survivor born in Zagreb, Croatia, swore she would never eat minestrone soup again not after it was served three times a day when she was in an Italian prison during World War II.

Now 95, Levy is as tough as nails and as strong-willed as they come. She says she eventually got over her aversion to minestrone soup.

I eat it, she said. Im hungry. So I try not to think about it.

Levy has a neat bob of light brown hair and is very precise with her words. A resident of the Moldaw Residences in Palo Alto, she says her family experienced a traumatic life as Jews in Europe during the 1940s. But her story is also one of extraordinary luck.

Born in 1925, Levy said her life in Zagreb was pleasant growing up. She remembers skiing in the nearby mountains in the winters and going to the beach in the summers. Her father, Filip Baum, was an industrialist who sold metal furniture to hospitals. Her mother, Frida, sold her fathers items in a store. Levys brother, Fredi, worked in her fathers factory.

In a manuscript Levy wrote detailing her life during the Holocaust, theres a marked transition from this peaceful existence.

Suddenly, Levy wrote, on the morning of April 6, 1941, this secure, pleasant, comfortable life comes to a crushing end.

That was the day the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, invaded what was then Yugoslavia. Levy remembers bombs falling on her city and German soldiers goose-stepping down a road. Before the invasion, we thought our country would be spared, she said.

Everything just came to an end.

Levy remembers being issued a yellow star that she had to wear at all times in public. Friends of hers would avoid her on the street.

Just wearing the Star of David was humiliation, Levy recalled. Total humiliation. You realized you were a marked individual. Soon, all Jews had to give up their property and jobs.

One day, Levy and her family were ordered by Croatian soldiers to gather at a fairgrounds, along with many other Jews. She remembers being ordered to clean toilets and was fed boiled potatoes and a piece of bread for meals. At night, she says, the Croatian soldiers took away many of the women to assault them. In the morning, they returned disheveled but didnt say anything.

Then a stroke of luck came to Levys family. The employees at her fathers factory signed a petition to release them. They were free to go. (Levy said she never again saw any of the other Jews from the fairgrounds.)

Levys family, and her aunt Charlotta, were able to return home for a few weeks. But then her father was suddenly taken to Jasenovac, a concentration camp known to be among the most brutal in Europe.

After the German invasion of Yugoslavia, a fascist and virulently anti-Semitic government called the Ustase took the countrys reins, and also operated Jasenovac. In total, between 12,000 and 20,000 Jews were murdered there.

For three months, Levy did not know where her father was. Those are difficult memories, Levy said. Very painful. This was disturbing is not the right word. It was devastating, really.

One day, Levys 50-year-old father returned emaciated and looking 30 years older than his age. He must have lost 80 pounds, Levy wrote in her manuscript.

But there also was a moment of hope: To think how incredible, how improbable it is to have the whole family together once again, Levy wrote. What are the odds of this happening?

In 1942, the family decided it was time to get out of Croatia. However, because of differing travel documents, Levy and her brother were split off from their parents. The two hid for several weeks in a peasant village before being smuggled into Italy, where Jews werent as harshly persecuted. However, Italian authorities were searching for refugees, and Levy and her brother were caught and imprisoned.

For 12 days, Levy was in a womens prison, along with wives of Yugoslav partisan fighters. They slept on straw mattresses infested with bed bugs and she ate the soon-to-be-despised minestrone soup.

After her release, her family eventually was reunited, but then came another hurdle. They were immediately shipped to an Italian concentration camp.

Just wearing the Star of David was humiliation. You realized you were a marked individual.

While Mussolini enforced anti-Semitic laws during wartime, and even confiscated Jewish property, the government did not have the same genocidal aspirations as the Germans. Levys family found themselves at the Ferramonti internment camp, where other prisoners assured them that theyd be treated humanely. Levy described the place, which held more than 3,000 people, as a shelter.

It wasnt all easy, though. In the 18 months Levy was there, she contracted malaria and had health issues with her appendix. And in August 1943, Allied planes began bombing the camp, killing four prisoners at one point.

We were waiting for the war to end, Levy said.

In September, the camp was liberated by British forces. It was absolutely wonderful, Levy said. I can picture them today. All these young soldiers in uniforms. Coming out with knapsacks full of food and distributing Spam and chocolates and other things. We were just elated.

There was something else to celebrate, too.

At Ferramonti, Levy had met Abraham Ruchwarger, a fellow prisoner. The two got married in April 1944. At the time, both were working at an Allied hospital, where Levy was trained as a nursing assistant.

Meanwhile in the United States, the War Refugee Board successfully convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to take in 1,000 refugees from the Italian region, and the Levys were chosen among thousands of applicants. (While this action may seem hospitable, U.S. officials also chose to ignore many opportunities to save Holocaust victims.)

The family wound up in upstate New York at Fort Ontario, an emergency refugee shelter in Oswego also known as Safe Haven (and was the first and only U.S. refugee center during World War II). The Levys were there for 18 months, until the U.S. government formally allowed the entire lot of refugees to become citizens.

While her parents and brother went to New York, Levy and her husband went to Newark, New Jersey, and then to Washington, D.C., living there until Abraham died of a heart attack in 1968.

Levy, who had two children by then, sold her house in D.C. and remarried. In 1982, she and her new husband, David, who also had been a refugee at Fort Ontario, moved to San Mateo, where they lived for 32 years until David died of a heart attack.

Shortly before his death, David convinced his wife that she should move to the Moldaw Residences, where she currently resides. My new family is Moldaw, she said.

I know many people who went through much worse than I did, she said. But I dont know whether it was fate or destiny. I can never decide what caused this, for my family to be able to survive.

See the rest here:
Zdenka's story of WWII survival in Croatia and Italy: 'Others had it worse' - The Jewish News of Northern California

Chinese authorities reportedly scrambled to move people out of quarantine hotels, which need safety inspections after the deaths of at least 10 people in a collapsed hotel.

Joanna Davison, an English teacher, and her partner were suddenly placed in enforced isolation in Shenzhen after a ferry trip about 10 days ago. On Thursday, she told the Guardian she endured a terrifying experience as five people in hazmat suits came to test them at her home before they were whisked to quarantine.

But their period in isolation has taken a new twist after a transfer to another hotel. We were sitting on the bed and noticed orange speccy marks, she said.

We soon realised it was bed bugs and we were moved into the room next door. But the moment we came into the second room we lifted a corner of the sheet and a live bed bug ran across the sheet, then we found another one under the pillow.

They were moved to a third room, but also found blood marks resembling those created by bed bugs. Clearly the whole hotel is infested with bed bugs, she said.

The couple have four days remaining in quarantine at Yinglun hotel in Shenzhen, but they dont want to risk sleeping in the bed.

Weve been sitting on the table and window sill, avoiding fabrics, asking for help because there is nothing else we can do, Davison said.

Its hard to know who to be most frustrated with. Everybody here is just doing their job. They can clearly see this is ridiculous but they cant offer us a solution.

Our school is saying they could deliver us some pesticide or send a mattress. Its really sweet but is this what it has come to? Its a farce.

At the previous hotel, she had been passing the days practising yoga, reading and watching the sitcom Parks and Recreation, but she has spent her time at the new lodgings demanding another room while taking videos of the mess and lice.

The hotel has offered the couple a final deal to remove the pillowcases and sheet, but cannot provide another double mattress. It has threatened to separate the couple into different rooms if they do not accept. I think its just a threat, Davison said. Be quiet or well separate you.

Twenty-three people remain missing after the five-storey hotel in Quanzhou, about seven hours from Shenzhen in southern China, collapsed on Saturday.

According to Davison, this led to an assessment of all other quarantine hotels amid fears of others falling down. Ours needed a full inspection, she said. Id questioned whether smoke alarms were working as there were guards smoking beneath the sensors.

I was also told the electricity was extremely unable, which is why we could not have a fridge in our room. The whole building is being inspected today after it was abruptly emptied.

Health authorities in Guangdong province have fiercely guarded against imported cases of coronavirus, after a 35-year-old man from Shenzhen who had been working in Bristol tested positive this month after flying from Heathrow to Hong Kong.

It was unclear whether he became infected in the UK, but Chinese authorities said two of the patients colleagues in Britain had reported coughs and fever.

More here:
Coronavirus live updates: fifth death confirmed in UK, as head of New York's airports tests positive - The Guardian

If you partake in ridesharing programs like Uber and Lyft, you may run the risk of entering a vehicle that has carried a passenger with a bedbug problem, according to one Dallas-based exterminator.

WALMART IN PENNSYLVANIA FOUND EVIDENCE OF ATTEMPTED BEDBUG INFESTATION: POLICE

"I probably do five to 10 rideshare cars per week," Don Brooks, owner of Doffdon Pest Control, told Dallas news stationWFAA. "Drivers either see bedbugs, someone complained,or they were suspicious of a customer and just want to make sure."

A bedbug infestation doesnt always mean a lack of hygiene either. The bugs can easily crawl from one unsuspecting passenger to another without the owner of the vehicle even noticing, Brooks said. He also noted that bedbugs can live over a year without feeding on blood, so an untreated situation can quicklybecome disastrous for companies that provide millions of rides per day.

One method Brooks uses involves heating a tent to nearly 150 degrees. Drivers usually leave their cars in the tent for a few hours at a cost of $250, he said, though, he also offers a cheaper solution with liquid pesticides.

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On a national level, the average cost estimate for bedbug extermination ranges between $320 and $400, according to a recent report from Thumbtack,an online local marketplace for professional services.

"If you feel suspicious, just throw your clothes in the dryer for 50 minutes on high heat. Then it's best to hop in the shower," Brooks said.

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Dallas-Forth Worth is one of the mostbedbug-infested citiesin the nation, according to Terminex. Only New York City and Philadelphia have topped the Texas citys high numbers.

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More here:
Uber, Lyft drivers in Dallas having cars treated for bedbugs - Yahoo News

Do not disturb? More like, I couldnt be more disturbed.

Typically, when you arrive at a hotel, youve been traveling and, after a long day, you just want to rest. So, you approach the check-in desk, they give you the key to your room, you put it in the door and as you stroll in with your suitcase, you spot something thatsoff. Hairs in the sink? Giant roach on the wall? Someone literally in your bed? Recently, we asked our readersWhats the grossest thing youve found in a hotel? After acquiring more than a few responses, we decided to compile some of the most notable answers and present them below. Viewer discretion is advised.

Were willing to bet youd prefer to choose who enters your hotel room. Were also willing to bet an insect of any sort would not receive an invitation. Bruce Jerde says he encountered bed bugs at an airport hotel in Seattle. It was a nice, renovated hotel, so I was shocked when I woke up with hundreds of bites. They gave me free breakfast. Never went back, he says. Similarly, Lori Sieber found ants swarming her room in Lake Garda, Italy.

Roaches on Maui in our hotel bathroom, says Karen Busch Jacob, and a very dirty carpet at an Anaheim motel. In a nightmare turn of events, Monika Elizabeth says she came across a rat in my hotel suite in NYC. And, mysteriously, Micky Funk reveals he found a box with a biohazard sign on it and it was oozing liquid in New Jersey. Its not clear if anything emerged from the box, but hopefully, Micky didnt stick around to find out.

Ah, the hotel beda mattress (complete with box springs?) that all guests hope offers the capability to provide a good nights rest. Occasionally, as seen here, though, it can also be a literal hotbed of substances that should not be present. For example, Nita Losoponkul says she found, Blood-stained sheets. And better yet, when I called, they said housekeeping had left for the day and the hotel was sold out so I couldnt switch rooms. So, couldnt I just sleep on the other half of the bed? Um no. Marilyn Mac Leay Giambrone, no doubt unnerved, remembers a time when she woke up to something rather unpleasant: [We were staying at] a brand new hotel and in the middle of the night, I realized there was only a twin sheet on sideways so the lower half of our bodies were laying directly on the mattress. So gross. Kathryn Stewart encountered something thats arguably a little more shocking to the eye: a used condom under the bed [that was hidden from view] where the spread hung down, she said. Glad I found it before my toddlers did! Sandy Voss Halley claims she found puke on the carpet right next to the bed! And, horrifically, Erica S Plaisance said she discovered pee on the mattress and sheets after I got into the bed. Disheartened guest Matt Tabakman remembers when he found a bed full of dog hair (and Im a devoted dog dad!). Ayesha Hafeez says: Someones underwear in a made bed.

Beth Kostic Fenton more than likely asked this same question. Not necessarily gross, but creepy: someone else was in my hotel room! I started to go into my room and heard (and saw) another guest in the room, going about his business. Freaked. Me. Out! The hotel staff gave me a new room and comped my stay, as they should have, Fenton said on Facebook. Rondah Rietveld revealed a comparable experience: Two people were in my bed when I came into the room.

Bill Jordan responded: my one night stand. Another user, Christina Monk, encountered something of a cinematic parallel, yet the not-so-sentient guest was not invited in: A glass dildo and a broom handle in the drawer! So gross!!! Another unexpected and not-so-sentient intruder, Zameer U. Baber claims they found Olive Garden. Fodors editor Teddy Minford weighed in as well, as she recalled encountering an unexpected substance: I checked into my hotel room on the Dead Sea and it was covered in tiny globs of mudon the pillows, on the bathroom mirror, on the door handle, everywhere! In an arguably smellier turn of events also involving droppings, Jeanette Renfro had an unfortunate discovery: Some little dog pooped (dribbled diarrhea) in corners all around my hotel suite at a five-star hotel in Philadelphia. The hotel said it must be wine; sure, adults take their wine glass to room corners when theyre tipsy, right?! I will no longer stay in hotels that dont separate rooms for humans (only) and people who are accompanied by their pets. It was gross!, Renfro said. In Bangkok, Gary Ray says he discovered a broken toilet bowel that sloshed into the shower. And last, but certainly not least, Michelle Roberts informed us of an unexpected surprise: Me and mine stayed in a hotel and got moved to another room, turned the ceiling fan on, and off flew a used condom straight onto the bed. No thank you. Oh, wait, one more: Stuart Strickland says he found a half-eaten chicken leg in a dresser drawer.

All responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.

Go here to see the original:
Most Disgusting Things Ever Found in a Hotel Room - Fodor's Travel

In response to this unwelcome resergence, the French government launched an anti-bedbug campaign Thursday, which includes a dedicated website and an information hotline.

"We can all be affected," reads the website, which provides information on "strict measures" to prevent the spread of the small, flattened insects, which are about the same size as an apple seed.

Bedrooms and living rooms with sofas are at particular risk, and the insects prefer to live in dark areas, the website continues.

The parasites -- whose scientific name is Cimex lectularius -- feed on human blood and each one can bite up to 90 times in a single night, leaving sores similar to mosquito bites.

Recommended measures to prevent infestations include washing second-hand clothes at 60 degrees Celsius or higher before wearing them, and cleaning used furniture with dry heat before taking it home.

International travel and increasing resistance to insecticides are to blame for the critters' resurgence, according to the website.

Hotel guests are advised to store their luggage on racks rather than on the floor, and check the bed, mattress and other dark areas before using them.

Upon returning home, travelers should check for bedbugs inside suitcases and vacuum their luggage before throwing the vacuum bag away.

Officials also advise washing clothes in hot water, or heating non-washable items in a tumble dryer.

Such is the scale of Paris' bedbug problem that former mayoral candidate Benjamin Griveaux had promised to rid the city of the insects in his first 100 days in office, according to the AFP news agency.

However, Griveaux was forced to pull out of the race following the publication of a sexually explicit video he allegedly sent to his mistress.

The insects became a huge problem in New York around 2010, affecting apartments, shops, schools and hospitals. City officials also launched a campaign to fight the pests.

A 2017 study found that bedbugs -- just like flies and other insects -- have favorite colors.

They really like dark red and black, and they shun dazzling white and bright yellow.

The bugs have had a long time to refine their personal taste; they've been around for more than 100 million years.

A 2019 study revealed the insects roamed the earth with dinosaurs, but they probably didn't feed on dinosaur blood as the ancient animals didn't keep a "home" for bedbugs to live in.

Link:
France launches bedbug hotline in campaign to stamp out the itchy menace - CNN

Like a rumor of bed bugs that goes viral, Search Engine Optimization or SEO has haunted hotel marketers since the beginning of digital marketing.

How do we rank better in search results?

The answers to these questions are ever-changing and, every year, they get more complicated.

SEO's evolution from black hat tactics like link farms, to the effectiveness of blogging, to the impact of your "Google My Business" listing leave even the savviest hotel marketers confused.

One thing we all agree on? With constant updates to Google's algorithm, wishy washy metrics on SEO reports, and all that technical jargon, half the trouble with SEO is just understanding how to talk about SEO.

It's easy to understand why hoteliers occasionally lack confidence in the strategies they pursue and what results they can reasonably expect from those strategies.

But it doesn't have to be this way. We'll break it down into four easily digestible components so you can tackle - and talk about SEO - with confidence and ease.

The first thing to understand about hotel SEO is that it's not like any other industry. And that's one reason SEO is so confusing for hoteliers. Once you understand that it's different for hotels than, say, furniture manufacturers, you're ready to adopt a hospitality industry-specific SEO approach.

Hotel SEO has four main components. Each one has a unique strategy all its own, with rules and KPIs that are unique to it.

Technical SEO has everything to do with how your site is built. A well-built site is technically fit enough to turn up in searches. In other words, Technical SEO allows the "all mighty" Google bots to crawl your site with ease.

Keep in mind, though, that things are going to break! That's the world we live in. So you need to monitor your Technical SEO and repair it as it breaks. After all, if your site can't be indexed, then it can't turn up in search. In that sense, Technical SEO is the backbone of your entire SEO strategy.

Run a check-up of your site's health through Search Console or SEMrush. In a few clicks, you can check the quality of your Technical SEO.

Directories don't get enough credit in the SEO conversation. Directories consist of search listings, map listings, websites and apps that house your hotel NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) across devices.

Your "Google My Business" listing is a directory, for example - and it's one of the largest and most critical directories out there for hotels.

But the list of online directories is long and distinguished.

When someone searches your hotel name in one of these directories, are you confident they will find what they are looking for? Is the name, address and phone number of your property correct? Some directories even include a link to your hotel website. Is it pointing in the right direction?

Directories are critically important to users finding and contacting your property with ease.

Good Directory SEO is consistent. When someone searches your property in Google Maps, the name, address and phone number is identical to what they'd find on TripAdvisor, Instagram, Facebook, etc.

Tools like Yext allow you to control all your listings simultaneously, view quality score reports for each listing, and check site traffic and views.

Brand SEO involves the use of keywords that include your brand name.

For example, if your brand name is Hotel Hugo, your Brand SEO goal is to rank for keywords that include the phrase "Hotel Hugo." Easy enough.

However, a comprehensive Brand SEO strategy should be a combination of paid and unpaid tactics. One of the biggest mistakes hotel marketers make is thinking about paid and unpaid search efforts on Google as entirely separate strategies.

The truth is, they work hand in hand. By separating the two strategies (goals, agencies, spend, reporting) hotel marketers do themselves no favors. The first step to creating true synergy between these paid & unpaid brand search is to understand how they interact with each other.

To start, let's look at Google branded search results.

In the example below, our brand search term is "Stanford Park Hotel."

Notice that a brand search has four main placements in a Google search result.

A good brand SEO strategy is the combination of paid and unpaid search efforts.

When all four pistons are firing at the same time, hoteliers stand the greatest chance of winning those all-important direct bookings.

The four components of Brand Search can be measured differently.

Warning: Be cautious about measuring those different placements separately because they all work together to achieve the direct booking. Instead, look at whether your direct bookings are up overall. Better still, look at your bottom-line revenue.

Non-Brand SEO relates to how well you rank for relevant keywords that don't have your brand name in them. For example, a relevant non-brand search term for the hotel "Stanford Park Hotel" would be "Palo Alto Hotels."

Let's take a look at the Google non-brand search results for that term:

Notice that a non-brand search has three main placements within Google's search results.

Notice that the Stanford Park Hotel does not turn up anywhere for the non-brand key term "Palo Alto Hotels" on page 1.

Why? For this particular keyword search term, the hotel is up against some pretty big roadblocks, including:

These are the struggles almost every hotel faces in the quest for relevant non-brand keywords. That's what makes Non-Brand SEO so challenging - and why paid search advertising is so important to the success of your Non-Brand SEO strategy.

Paid search ads will enable you to:

A good Non Brand SEO strategy looks like this:

The three components of Non-Brand Search can be measured differently.

Tambourine uses technology and creativity to increase revenue for hotels and destinations worldwide. The firm, now in its 33rd year, is located in New York City, Fort Lauderdale, and Carlsbad, CA. Please visit: http://www.Tambourine.com

Tambourine is transforming hotel e-commerce. The Firm has become an instrumental partner for elite hoteliers, hotel management and asset management firms seeking to outperform their compset, improve bottom-line profitability and decrease OTA-dependence.

We deliver targeted managed service programs that ensure maximum traffic and conversions across all digital channels. Our team utilizes our own best-in-class technology to empower your property giving you the confidence and ability to achieve your ownership's revenue goals.

The firm is celebrating its 35th year in business. For more information about Tambourine, visit http://www.Tambourine.com

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What's The Most Challenging Thing About Hotel SEO? Talking About Hotel SEO | By Thomas McDermott - Hospitality Net

5 items in this article 2 items on sale!

Photo: Comedy Central

Ask most city dwellers about their deepest fears, and bedbugs probably rank pretty high on the list. Whether you live in a penthouse or a garden apartment, bedbugs dont discriminate, and can drive you insane if they manage to infiltrate your space. Thats why its important to take proper precautions when trying to prevent (or deal with) an infestation. One of those precautions is to get a mattress cover, which professionals say can be a helpful tool for protecting your bed from the creepy-crawlies. But contrary to popular belief, mattress covers do not prevent a bedbug infestation, according to Timothy Wong, the technical director of New York Citybased, eco-friendly pest management company MMPC. Instead, Wong says that mattress covers help with early detection, because they provide a smooth, clean, white surface that makes it easy to spot any visual evidence of bedbugs. Two pieces of such evidence, according to John H. Brickman, the owner of NYC Bed Bug Inspections, are any live insects or black spotting from fecal matter.

In the event of an infestation, a mattress cover will also help preserve the integrity of your mattress, making it less likely youll have to throw it away, says Richard Kane, the founder of Bed Bug Pest Prep NYC. When it comes to selecting a bedbug mattress cover, Brickman says that the best ones are pretty much all the same, so it really comes down to comfort. Below, Wong, Kane, Brickman, and Matthew Moers, a co-owner of EZ Pest Exterminating, recommend their favorite bedbug mattress covers, along with additional encasements made for box springs and pillows. And remember, the battle of bedbugs is more psychological than anything else, says Kane. Getting rid of them isnt that hard when you stay calm and follow the experts advice.

SafeRest Premium Zippered Bedbug Proof Mattress Encasement

Wong notes that while buying a bedbug mattress cover is mostly a matter of personal preference and budget, he always recommends SafeRests mattress covers to his clients, due to their breathable material, washability, and well-designed zipper guard. According to him, what separates quality encasements from inferior ones is the zipper, and the best bedbug covers, like SafeRests, should prevent bedbugs from crawling through the zippers teeth, as well as have a zipper cover that prevents bedbugs from entering into the zippers seams. SafeRests covers are also completely waterproof, hypoallergenic, and machine-washable, he adds. Bedbug mattress covers are generally made from either cotton, polyester, or vinyl, all of which will keep bedbugs out of your mattress, Wong says. But the experts we spoke to suggested sticking with polyester of cotton, noting that the latter is generally the softest and most breathable material. Vinyl covers arent breathable and rip very easily because they have no stretch, Moers explains, adding that vinyl covers often have glued seams. To get the most out of your investment, Wong also suggests buying encasements that protect against both bedbugs and dust mites, like this one promises to.

A note on how to properly encase your mattress: Brickman says that you want to make sure your mattress encasement covers everything, including mattress toppers. You also want to make sure you put the zipper at the foot of the bed, away from your head, because thats where our bodies release the most bedbug-attracting carbon dioxide, he adds.

Linenspa Zippered Encasement

For a less-expensive alternative, Brickman recommends Linenspas mattress cover, which is made from waterproof, machine-washable polyester. (Wong says that polyester can give a similar feel to cotton, but is generally cheaper in cost.) I always recommend Linenspa, its cheap, and its great quality, Brickman told us. Like SafeRests covers, Linenspas encasements also protect mattresses from dust mites and allergens.

Linenspa Waterproof Bedbug Proof Box Spring Encasement Protector

If youre going to cover your mattress, youre going to want to cover your box spring as well, says Kane. Brickman agrees: Bedbugs love box springs, he says, because they tend to have more hollow spaces in between layers of wood and padding, which provide perfect living and breeding conditions. His pick is Linenspas polyester box-spring cover, which protects against dust mites, allergens, and liquids, as well as bedbugs. But he adds that, in a perfect world, he would have his clients get rid of their box springs all together, and instead put their mattress on a metal platform bed frame like this one from AmazonBasics, because the metal material is less bedbug-friendly than a wooden frame (or box spring). If clients must use a box spring, he will advise them to cover it with an encasement and still consider using a metal bed frame beneath.

Protect-A-Bed Box Spring Encasement, Queen

When it comes to box-spring covers, Kane also suggests going for a polyester cover, because he says the material is stretchy but less likely to tear. His preferred box-spring cover is from Protect-A-Bed. While it doesnt protect against dust mites, it is still excellent at keeping out bedbugs, according to him.

Allersoft 2 Pack Allergy and Bedbug Proof Pillow Cover

If you want to be extra vigilant, the pros say that investing in covers for your pillows is also a good idea. Pillow covers are designed to do the same thing as mattress or box-spring encasements, explains Brickman. They eliminate hiding spots on the pillow and make it easier for you to visually inspect for bugs on your own. He likes Allersofts cotton pillow covers, which protect against bedbugs, dust mites, and allergens. Brickman also suggests keeping bright white sheets on your bed since darker colors make it very difficult to visually inspect for evidence on your own. Because bedbugs breed so rapidly, being proactive is key, he concludes.

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The Best Bedbug Mattress Covers, According to Experts - New York Magazine

It was the kind of town hall meeting that could, perhaps, only be held in West Hollywood.

Were going to talk about sex, City Councilman John Duran warned the crowd, feigning surprise.

Behind the scenes a few minutes earlier, one of the panelists, a drag queen in a sparkling halter top, had asked him how much swearing was appropriate, given the topic. (Try to avoid F-bombs, Duran advised.)

But what they were talking about, in such a colorful way, could not be more serious.

The topic at the packed town hall Wednesday night was a growing crisis, especially in the LGBTQ community, that health experts say is not talked about enough: chemsex, or using drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine and MDMA to enhance sexual activity and lower inhibitions.

Also called party and play, chemsex has become pervasive on online dating apps like Adam4Adam, Scruff and Grindr, where people use constantly changing code words and emojis to show they want to use or buy drugs and have sex, said Jimmy Palmieri, founder of the Tweakers Project, a support group for people struggling with crystal meth addiction.

I dont think theres anyone in West Hollywood that hasnt been touched, somehow, some way, by meth, Palmieri said.

In West Hollywood, methamphetamine was involved in 47 deaths between 2015 and 2018, and meth-related hospitalizations have steadily ticked upward for the last decade, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

The event follows the overdose deaths of two black gay men in the West Hollywood apartment of Democratic donor Ed Buck, who was accused last fall of injecting fatal doses of crystal methamphetamine into victims for his own sexual gratification.

For far too long, I think, meth has been overlooked as a public health crisis, said Dr. Lello Tesema, an associate medical director at the L.A. County Department of Public Health Division of Substance Abuse Prevention and Control.

While it does not have the same national attention as the opioid crisis, methamphetamine in the Los Angeles area is actually incredibly prevalent and incredibly dangerous, she said.

The town hall came at a time when, city leaders say, there is a critical shortage of spaces in West Hollywood that can and will accommodate addiction recovery groups. Currently, the fate of a run-down log cabin on Robertson Boulevard that hosts some two dozen sobriety meetings each week is up in the air. Beverly Hills owns the lot on which it sits and wants it gone; West Hollywood officials are trying to lease it to keep the meetings going.

Town hall panelist Jason De Puy, a drag queen, said that the problem is rarely discussed openly. There are influencers on Instagram with a hundred thousand followers, and theyre doing crystal meth on the side, and no one understands or even knows that and everyones scared to talk about it, he said.

De Puy, who has been sober for eight years, said that, like many young gay men who come to West Hollywood, he had not been taught about gay sex and was ashamed by it. He was introduced to crystal meth at a bathhouse, and it seemed to make intimacy easier and more euphoric.

The addiction quickly took over his life. He was homeless for a spell before moving into an apartment filled with cockroaches, fleas and bedbugs.

Meth and sex kept me from having to deal with life, De Puy said.

When I got sober, I had to learn how to have sex again because I was used to this seedy, dangerous, risky sex.... You can go to the orgies, honey. You can go to the bathhouse. You can do this stuff sober, De Puy said.

De Puy, 29, said hes had so many friends die unexpectedly from overdoses.

Jason De Puy, dressed in drag, talks about his sobriety and former use of drugs during sex as a member of a panel at a town hall for a discussion about sex and the use of substances such as meth, GHB, cocaine and MDMA at the West Hollywood City Council chambers on Wednesday.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

In recent surveys of nearly 1,600 people in West Hollywood, more than 70% of respondents said that meth use at community events, bars and clubs is a pressing issue for the city, according to the Safe West Hollywood Community Coalition.

The coalition and city employees recently have begun going to major events like LA Pride and West Hollywoods Halloween Carnaval to hand out free naloxone, a medication that can reverse drug overdoses, as well as condoms and testing strips to determine whether recreational drugs are laced with fentanyl.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the contamination of illicit drugs like methamphetamine with fentanyl a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin is a growing public health concern. Often, users are unaware that it has been added.

People dont even realize theyre doing fentanyl, Duran said. Were seeing a lot of people in our community who just thought they were going to party and not waking up the next day.

When you throw in sexuality, oppression, shame, stigma, HIV, meth and then add fentanyl in the mix, its a deadly combination.

The town hall panelists said that one of the tragedies of chemsex is that it often stems from loneliness and LGBTQ peoples shame around their sexuality or gender identity. Tesema said that in a world increasingly connected by technology, were in a crisis of loneliness.

The questions from the audience reflected that: Can you talk about how this ties in with mental health and self-esteem and suicide prevention? How can I get people to rally around this issue?

Melissa McCracken, a chemsex counselor for Breathe Life Healing Center in West Hollywood, said people lose self intimacy when in the throes of drug addiction and that meth use disables empathy, which is one of the tragic casualties.

Eric Fletes, an outreach specialist with the Los Angeles LGBT Center, shares information about fentanyl and substance abuse treatment with the public at a chemsex town hall meeting in West Hollywood.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Giving yourself the space and the time to actually connect with another person is difficult, but its not impossible, she said.

Tesema noted that people often become depressed when they relapse after trying to stop using meth, even though relapse is not only common but an expected process in recovery.

In the lobby afterward, where naloxone and fenantyl-testing strips were being handed out, a 31-year-old man said the town hall was a nice change of pace from the crystal meth and alcohol addiction recovery meetings he attends.

The man, who asked that his name not be used because he was in recovery, said he works as a property manager for a 187-unit building in Westwood and has had to call authorities twice recently because of tenants overdosing on heroin.

Sobriety meetings are peer-to-peer, he said. Seeing issues like chemsex and meth use be discussed bluntly by experts, in a City Council chamber, gave him hope that they would get more attention, he said.

To see that the city is behind it is amazing, he said. It elevates it, for sure.

Read more from the original source:
Fighting meth-fueled 'chemsex' in the LGBTQ community, West Hollywood takes a stand - Los Angeles Times

The Off Broadway Alliance, the organization of Off Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents, and marketing firms, will hold the next event in its Seminars series focused on the Off Broadway producing process on Sunday, March 1, 2020.

The seminar, titled "What Things Cost: Budgeting Your Off Broadway Show." Industry experts will discuss the ins and outs of budgeting for Off Broadway plays and musicals of all sizes; in theatres with 99 to 499 seats, from one to eight performances a week. They will also share their insight on where to spend and where to save, and how to stretch the dollars and get the biggest bang for your buck. The panelists will include Lisa Dozier King (Be More Chill, A Letter to Harvey Milk), William Franzblau (Say Goodnight Gracie, David Mamet's American Buffalo), and Evan Bernardin (Afterglow, We Are the Tigers). Robert Driemeyer (La Cage aux Folles, Tennessee Williams' The Two-Character Play) will moderate.

"What Things Cost: Budgeting Your Off Broadway Show." will be held on the 3rd floor of The Theater Center (210 West 50th Street). Check-in will begin at 10:30am for networking and complimentary coffee and bagels. The panel discussion will take place from 11am to 12:30pm with additional time allotted afterward for conversation with fellow attendees.

Admission for the seminar is $5 (to partially cover the costs of presenting the seminar), and pre-registration is a must. Attendees are encouraged to pre-submit questions for the panelists when they submit their reservations. Questions will be asked live at the seminar.

Lisa Dozier King - is the founder of LDK Productions, a New York City based theatrical general management and producing firm. Current/recent productions include: Be More Chill (Broadway, Off Broadway, London, Chicago), the American Premiere of Red Devil Battery Sign by Tennessee Williams, Katsura Sunshine's Rakugo at New World Stages, Hit Her with the Skates (Chicago), Sacrifice, A Sign of the Times, Kenney: Bobby's Last Crusade, A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, A Letter to Harvey Milk, The Crusade of Connor Stephens, Vincent, Bedbugs the Musical, Breakfast with Mugabe, F#%king Up Everything, and more. She has been on staff at the New 42nd Street, Manhattan Theatre Club, Symphony Space, American Repertory Theatre and New York Stage & Film. Lisa was the BFA Theatre Management program director at the University of Miami from 2013-2018 and served as the general manager for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's annual Festival of New Musicals for over a decade. She is also the founding producing director of Miami New Drama, a new regional theatre that produces and manages the 400 seat historic Colony Theatre on Miami Beach, and has been a professor of practice at the University of Florida since January 2019. LDKProductions.com

William Franzblau - created and produced the TONY Nominated Best Play Say Goodnight Gracie, produced David Mamet's American Buffalo on Broadway, and the tour of Little House on the Prairie the Musical starring Melissa Gilbert. He also served as the Executive and Lead Producer for Broadway's Wonderland. He licensed and produced the off-Broadway shows, Sistas the Musical (shot and broadcast on BET) Jewtopia, Evil Dead the Musical, The Male Intellect: an Oxymoron, and Iluminate (America's Got Talent Finalist). He recently produced and co-created Rocktopia (6-week limited run on Broadway) a national pledge show for PBS. Mr. Franzblau served as Executive Producer of three tours of the Moscow Circus on Broadway and throughout North America and produced the touring productions of the Broadway hit Beatlemania.

Evan Bernardin - founded Evan Bernardin Productions seven years ago. Quickly his office grew to be a leader in Off Broadway production where they developed the shows like We Are the Tigers, and the long-running Afterglow. Internationally, Evan's team has managed a selection of productions including Million Dollar Quartet, Charlie Brown, and Counting Sheep. He has worked with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Madison Wells Media, and The New York Musical Festival; collaborative projects include performances at Lincoln Center, The United Nations, Culture Project, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has had the opportunity to speak about nontraditional development models at New York University (NYU), Marymount Manhattan College (MMC), and Theatre Resources Unlimited (TRU).

Robert Driemeyer (Moderator) - Robert's Broadway credits include the Tony Award-winning revival of La Cage aux Folles starring Kelsey Grammar and Douglas Hodge and Elling starring Brendan Fraser and Denis O'Hare. Off Broadway he produced Tennessee Williams' The Two-Character Play starring Amanda Plummer and Brad Dourif, and Party Face starring Hayley Mills and directed by Amanda Bearse. Other Off Broadway credits include Shear Madness and Forbidden Broadway and Happy Birthday, Doug, He and producing partner Morgan Sills formed Driemeyer-Sills Productions which focuses on new works, classic revivals, and offers consulting and executive producing services, dsproducers.com.

Read more here:
The Off Broadway Alliance to Present Panel Discussion WHAT THINGS COST: BUDGETING YOUR OFF BROADWAY SHOW - Broadway World

The resources on this page can help anyone prevent bed bug infestations, and safely control them if they do occur.

Bed Bug EducationHPD offers an e-Learning class about bedbugs, which can be taken at any time on any computer with internet access. The interactive class discusses what bedbugs are, explores myths about bedbugs and provides some information about identifying and eradicating bedbugs.

Bed Bug DataBed bug data on the prevalence of bed bugs in New York City from the NYC Community Health Survey can be viewed on the Environmental Public Health and Sustainability Tracking Portal. This site also provides information on pesticides and other household pests.

New Bedding RegulationsThe Department of State Division of Licensing Services has issued new bedding regulations which include mattress sanitizing standards for used bedding. See Other Resources for more information about bed bug and housing laws.

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Bedbugs Information for the General Public - New York City