While models take the runway during Paris Fashion Week, bedbugs take the trains, planes, and cinemas…
Officials have warned of an apparent bed bug outbreak across public spaces in the capital during the height of one of the year’s biggest fashion events – Paris Fashion Week.
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Ahead of officials’ warnings, social media users had been posting footage of bed bugs crawling about in seats of high-speed trains and at the Paris metro. Online articles report the insects taking cinemas and even the Charles de Gaulle airport.
If you don’t want a case of the phantom itches, avoid watching this video shared by the BBC:
Travelers in Paris have also taken to TikTok to share videos after being bitten by bed bugs during their stay in the Capital:
@travelswithgrace This is one of the worst things ive experienced, ive been so scared to sleep for the last few nights and i feel so insecure with how i look. #bedbugs #bedbuginfestation #travelfail #parisbedbugs #bedbugbites #traveltok #hostelbedbug #fear #solobackpacking #hostels ♬ Moon – Siggerr
Guests at Paris Fashion Week set socials abuzz, trading tips to avoid picking up bed bugs, writes The New York Times:
“Attendees have been trading tips on how to avoid catching them: store your luggage in the bathtub, they said; if you take public transportation, don’t sit down on the fabric seats; buy a $220 bedbug-killing heater on Amazon.”
With Paris hosting the 2024 Olympics – less than a year away – concern has been raised as to how the bed bug infestation would impact the international sporting event.
Entomologist at Marseille’s main hospital, Jean-Michel Berenger, said:
“Every late summer, we see a big increase in bedbugs. That is because people have been moving about over July and August, and they bring them back in their luggage.”
“And each year, the seasonal increase is bigger than the last one.”
The rising issue has been addressed by the deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Gregoire, who issued a letter to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne this week, writing:
“The state urgently needs to put an action plan in place against this scourge as France is preparing to welcome the Olympic and Paralympic games in 2024,”
Despite the urge to take action against the scourge of bugs, Gregoire also cautioned against “hysteria,” adding that there is “no threat to the Olympic Games,” and that everyone should work together to solve the issue, concluding:
“Bedbugs existed before and they will exist afterward.”
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Feature Image: Pexels
