Education minister says ‘cases are piling up’ and that ‘an immediate response is needed’
France has been forced to shut seven schools over growing concerns over an infestation of bedbugs, the education minister has said.
“Bedbugs were detected at various levels in … I believe 17 institutions, and currently as I speak to you, seven institutions are closed for this reason,” Gabriel Attal told France 5 television.
The French government has held a series of meetings this week to examine surging numbers of reported bedbug cases at a time when France is hosting the Rugby World Cup and preparing to host the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Have you guys seen the comments section on youtube about this? A weird amount of kooky climate change deniers.
I remember when this happened in New York City about 10 years ago. We all just got new mattresses and couches and moved on with our lives. IKEA stock went through the roof.
That’s YouTube comments. Deniers tend to be either really ignorant or less ignorant, but more privileged - they have a lot of time to spend, especially the middle-aged ones closing in on retirement.
I find it hard to believe that France is only recently got bedbug problem. Tourists from all over the world are visiting France every year, right? Bedbugs surely already exist in France since ages ago. Are the news actually overblown, or is France truly experiencing significant increase in bedbugs infestation right now?
In the Paris area, there seem to be more and more recent reports of bedbugs. 3 of my friends actually had to move after the treatment of their flats failed.
Idk how bedbugs feel about the cold, but our winters are getting milder, resulting (among other things) in an increase in mosquitos population.
Well they do seem to die at 45°c, and that seems to be where we’re heading.
It’s more 55-60°C I think
I’m guessing we’ll have to wait a bit longer then!
Olympics are coming and France has a bad bed bug problem. Put two and two together
Apparently the bed bug issues are getting worse as they have become more resistant to insecticides as well over the years.
I wonder if this would be such an emergency if it wasn’t for the world cup and the Olympics.
Don’t get me wrong, bed bugs suck (I’ve dealt with them myself), but closing schools? Maybe it’s just because I’m American and I know our country wouldn’t do shit like that for us.
America just leaves our citizens with whatever infestations they have. I don’t even think they track most diseases anymore either at the CDC, with the exception of Covid mainly.
Off the top of my head, the cdc does track flu. How they track and calculate is beyond me. It confuses me as to why stuff like this is tracked, and yet the government is so determined to leave people in the dark.
The CDC tracks the usual suspects of course but things like pests are ignored, and if I recall lyme disease wasn’t really paid attention to much either.
America has quite a network still for monitoring mosquito borne diseases like West Nile virus o believe. Mosquito control is like, a multi-million dollar industry there, if not multi-billion.
Well, it’s been an issue since 2017 at the very latest, and they have done jack shit so I guess you have your answer.
Macron and his government are only concerned with their international image. They don’t give a shit about what their people think of them, as we have seen time and again. So yes, whatever measures they end up taking will only be there so that people abroad still come for the Olympics. If the French get anything out of it, it will be as an unintended side effect.
As someone literally leaving Paris today after spending a week there, this post was not fun to read… I guess so far we don’t itch?
Apparently some people don’t react to bed bug bites so there’s no itching at all
About 50% people do not get any reaction from their saliva at all.
When you get home, for every piece of cloth, either wash it over 60°C, steam it, or freeze it for 3 days. Same for your luggage, shoes, backpack. Also freeze your books and papers Until it’s done nothing can be free in your place, place it inside a closed trash bag
This is the best summary I could come up with:
France has been forced to shut seven schools over growing concerns over an infestation of bedbugs, the education minister has said.
The French government has held a series of meetings this week to examine surging numbers of reported bedbug cases at a time when France is hosting the Rugby World Cup and preparing to host the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Earlier Friday, the education ministry said in statement to Agence France-Presse that five schools with a total of 1,500 students had been closed.
Earlier this week, authorities announced two schools – one in Marseille and the other in Villefranche-sur-Saone outside Lyon in south-eastern France – had been shut down for cleaning.
A tenth of all French households are believed to have had a bedbug problem over the past few years, usually requiring a pest control operation costing several hundred euros which often needs to be repeated.
But the individual cases have not been confirmed by the authorities and RMC TV reported that a investigation by Paris transport operator RATP had found no bedbugs on its services.
The original article contains 355 words, the summary contains 175 words. Saved 51%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
When the schools close, don’t the kids just bring the bedbugs home to their parents’ homes exasperating the problem?
Technically schools close every night, and kids already sleep at home.
Oh, I assumed they closed schools where students were staying on campus. This makes way more sense. Thanks
… Keeping them open doesn’t prevent that??
This helps compartmentalize and separate the infestations.
Ok whose the American that imported this stuff to EU
Edit: Guys, I was kidding
Bed bugs were brought to America with Europeans and have been in Europe for thousands of years…
What xenophobia does to a mf.
He’s not wrong though. It is thought that they came back with tourism, possibly from the US
