Good morning. It’s Monday. Today we’ll look at why the tick population has exploded this year in New York State. And we’ll look at how New York City is stepping up police protection after the bombings in Iran.
The Fordham Tick Index, which gauges the risk of encountering ticks outdoors in the New York area, redlined last week.
It put the risk at 10 on its 10-point scale and added this advice: “If you’re thinking of taking a hike, consider going to a movie instead.”
The tick situation this summer really is that bad, said Thomas Daniels, the director of Louis Calder Center in Armonk, N.Y., a division of Fordham University. And it was predictable, said Joellen Lampman of the Cornell Integrated Pest Management program, because there was a bumper crop of acorns in 2023, more than acorn-eaters like deer, mice and squirrels could gobble up.
The rich diet carried them into 2024, when “they had more litters and larger litters,” she said, citing research by Richard Ostfeld of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y., “so we had more mice running around, more deer and all the things that love to eat the acorns.”
And the year after that? “An explosion of the things that eat the things that eat the acorns — ticks,” Lampman said, adding: “This is that year.”
Which is why health officials are bracing for more reports of symptoms of tick-borne infections. More than 1,800 new cases of Lyme disease were reported in New York City last year, and another 1,031 people tested positive for the disease after having reported symptoms in earlier years. The city’s health department said there were also 143 reports of two other diseases spread by ticks, babesiosis and anaplasmosis, among New York City residents last year.
The department said that most people with tick-borne illnesses in New York City were infected outside the city. But Maria Diuk-Wasser, a Columbia University professor who helped create an online tracking tool called the Tick App, said that some cases originated locally.
“If you live in Manhattan,” Diuk-Wasser said, “most likely you got it by traveling. If you live in Queens or the Bronx, you could have gotten it in a park. If you live in Long Island, you could get it in your own backyard.”
Where are they?
The health department has found tick populations across the city.
Three types of ticks — deer ticks, lone star ticks and Asian longhorned ticks — have turned up on Staten Island and in the North Bronx. Another type, the Gulf Coast tick, has appeared only on Staten Island.
Yet another, the American dog tick, also known as the wood tick, has been found in all five boroughs.
Of the five, only the deer tick carries Lyme disease. But deer ticks can carry four other pathogens, Daniels said. The other types of ticks can also transmit diseases.
What to look for
Ticks are so small that they travel almost incognito — the deer tick is about the size of a sesame seed — and some types of ticks are relative newcomers to the Northeast: Lone star ticks are pushing out from the South and have been found as far north as Canada.
That’s a concern in New York because the lone star tick and the dog tick “will run after you,” Daniels said. The deer tick does not do that, he said. It merely lies in wait until someone passes by. Then it latches on.
What to do?
The health department suggests using an insect repellent with a product label that says it is effective against ticks, not just mosquitoes. It says that the synthetic insecticide permethrin can be applied to clothes or shoes, but not skin.
The health department says to check for ticks when you come in from outside and to remove them immediately. It also suggests bathing or showering as soon as possible after coming inside, ideally within two hours, and putting the clothing in the dryer for 10 minutes on high heat to kill any ticks you may have picked up.
Ticks can also infect dogs and sometimes cats. The health department says to check with your veterinarian about flea and tick repellents.
Weather
Expect a sunny day with temperatures rising into the high 90s; an extreme heat warning is in effect. Tonight will remain warm, with temperatures in the high 70s. Here’s how to stay cool when it’s so hot.
ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING
In effect until the Fourth of July.
The latest New York news
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The race for mayor: Bill Clinton offered a last-minute endorsement of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose critics say that he has a complicated history of handling important city issues. The Democratic primary is tomorrow.
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‘It felt like kidnapping’: Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia graduate and pro-Palestinian activist who was held for more than three months in a federal detention center, described the moment when plainclothes immigration officers handcuffed him in the lobby of his Manhattan apartment building. The Trump administration is continuing its effort to deport him.
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Pantries in peril: As the Trump administration cuts funding for food banks, New York City pantries are facing an uncertain future.
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Lounging at the laundromat: Brooklyn entrepreneurs are putting a new spin on the traditional laundromat with “laundrobars,” which double as coffee shops, bars and hangout spots.
‘An abundance of caution’ after Iran bombings
After the Trump administration’s bombings in Iran over the weekend, Mayor Eric Adams said that more police officers had been posted at religious, cultural and diplomatic sites.
Adams, a Democrat who is running as an independent in the mayoral race, said the stepped-up police presence was ordered “out an abundance of caution.” The decision came after a virtual meeting with the mayor, police officials and the Police Department’s international liaisons.
Separately, Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said that state officials were “not aware of any specific or credible threat to New Yorkers.” But she added that “we are taking this situation extraordinarily seriously,” given “New York’s distinctive global profile.”
My colleague Chelsia Rose Marcius writes that the Police Department routinely increases security after a major international event. Four of its 14 international liaisons are stationed in the Middle East; one is in Tel Aviv, where Iranian missiles caused widespread damage in one neighborhood. Israel’s air defenses intercepted most of the missiles that Iran fired on Sunday in retaliation for the attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites.
“We have over a dozen detectives embedded within international law enforcement agencies who serve as our eyes and ears for threat awareness overseas,” the police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, said in a statement on X. She said that they went “above and beyond” in the past week, “using their contacts to help New Yorkers seeking to evacuate and get home.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subways and two commuter railroads, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey activated their counterterrorism protocols “in partnership with local law enforcement,” Hochul said. The Port Authority operates the major airports and shipping terminals in New Jersey and on Staten Island, along with four bridges, the Lincoln and Holland Terminals, the PATH rail line and two bus terminals in Manhattan.
Hochul said that the state police would continue “safety patrols” at places of worship and other sites believed to be at risk. “We have some of America’s largest Jewish and Muslim communities, and many have loved ones in the region,” she said. “As we work to keep New Yorkers safe, we pray for the safety of our American troops, for speedy de-escalation of this conflict and for durable peace in the region.”
METROPOLITAN diary
Magic purse
Dear Diary:
Some years ago, I stayed at a friend’s loft on Bleecker Street off Bowery while in a peripatetic phase of apartment sitting.
On a particularly sweltering night after a movie date on the Upper West Side that, except for the air-conditioning, was utterly futile, I decided to walk back to the loft.
Sweaty, broke, discouraged and still not even halfway there, I sat down on a stone bench near the Plaza Hotel, the Pulitzer Fountain and, to my left, the Paris Theater.
Slumped over, I spotted something striped beneath the bench: a black-and-white change purse.
I picked it up and opened it. Inside were two peppermint candies, no ID and what was to me a financial windfall: a $5 bill and some change.
Silently, I thanked the figure whose statue sits atop the fountain. As I later learned, she is Pomona, goddess of abundance. Feeling new strength, I picked myself up and resumed my walk downtown.
The five dollars was soon gone, but the magic of that striped change purse has stayed with me.
— Tilden Russell
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B.
P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.
Geordon Wollner, Ama Sarpomaa and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].
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James Barron writes the New York Today newsletter, a morning roundup of what’s happening in the city.
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