It was only a matter of time before bedbugs came to Georgetown. Though only one case has been confirmed in University housing, Georgetown must address this problem throughly before it worsens, and must prepare for potential worst-case scenarios. Bedbugs are among the most expensive and difficult kind of infestation to treat, and are becoming more and more prevalent in the D.C. area. If Georgetown wants to stop further infestations, it must communicate with students effectively and spare no expense in treating the few infested areas on campus.Otherwise a few isolated cases can quickly spread to become a campus-wide problem.
It is critical that Georgetown give its students all the information they need to avoid and treat infestations, including: how to identify a bite, where bedbugs can live, how to wash clothing in order to kill bedbugs, and how to store clothing during the weeks it takes to complete an extermination. Bedbugs can be exterminated, but only if both the exterminators and students do their part. Georgetown should make it clear what students’ responsibilities are, like washing clothing in very hot water and keeping all clothing in airtight bags while their rooms are treated.
Facilities must also respond very quickly to reports of bedbugs and improve on its poor record of responding to emergencies. In the fall of 2008, it was ill-prepared to help dozens of students whose Village A apartments were flooded after heavy rains. When norovirus, a very contagious disease that causes gastroenteritis, sickened hundreds of students in the fall of 2008, facilities initially refused to clean up sick students’ highly infectious vomit, saying that if it was in their room, it was their responsibility. If Facilities responds similarly in this instance, it may end up costing Georgetown a good deal of money. Instead, they must be proactive, and immediately replace any infested mattresses or fit them with bedbug-proof covers. Carpeted classrooms should be treated if the infestation spreads, since bedbugs can easily attach to shoes and clothing and move from building to building,. Georgetown should make sure that its exterminators will be able to handle the problem on a large scale, in case it grows.
Finally, Georgetown must prepare to spend money to prevent this problem from spreading. After the norovirus infection, Georgetown neither refunded students’ meal plans nor helped them pay for their medical bills, even though the infection started in Leo’s. They cannot afford to repeat this mistake. Killing off a bedbug infestation is aggravating, time-consuming, and expensive, and if Georgetown refuses to help affected students financially, chances are good that those students will not do everything in their power to contain and eradicate their infestation. Yes, replacing infested mattresses, offering free garbage bags for storage, and providing affected students with extra money for the many loads of laundry they will need to do will cost the University. But not as much as it would cost to treat the entire campus.
