Increase the spread….the more Massachusetts decreases the spread of Covid-19 virus also increases the spread of pests rather quickly. Pests are on the move and we have seen a 25% increase in new clients with never seen before pest issues and a 25% increase with our current clients with new pest issues. Our clients pest issues varies from cockroaches and rats in urban environments while we have been experiencing un uptick in mice issues in the suburbs as well. While applying our Integrated Pest Management approach with our new clients they are all located within a relatively close distance of a closed restaurant, a recently vacant building, home or reduced occupancy apartment community. Is that a coincidence? Of course not, want to learn why?
While I don’t blame the pests for wanting to find a suitable water and food source our clients are not happy they are using their home or business as a Bed and Breakfast. The pests were already disrupted by the change of routine due to the pandemic, they are excited to have found a new food and water source. This is where we can talk all about prevention but prevention won’t work, you can’t predict a pandemic and you couldn’t predict an entire strip mall closing eliminating water and food sources right be a large apartment community. Our Multi-family Housing solution will respond quickly and efficiently to maintain your valuable asset.
One of our new clients who manages a large multifamily high-rise apartment community adjacent to the recently closed strip mall experienced a subtle increase in need for pest services. Which eventually blossomed into Ecologic Entomology developing an “Intense Treatment Protocol Plan” for their cockroach infestation. How did this happen so quickly and somewhat unnoticed? The strip mall was home to two restaurants, nail salon and two smaller retail spaces. It was discovered the strip mall’s business’s had been working with a pest control company to eliminate the known roach problem from all the business’s. The strip mall’s businesses eventually had to cut expenses based during the flatten the curve shutdown and lost revenue. Unfortunately all of the businesses closed within 30 to 45 days of each other.
The Multi-family apartment community faced some trouble of their own with reduced occupancy within a few months from 96% occupied to 75% occupied, which left them quite a number of apartments hastily vacated. There are a few obvious, unpredictable and unpreventable factors contributing to the infestation. During the big move out, the former residents were in a hurry and didn’t clean up as much as they could have leaving food sources behind. Apartments were left untouched for a period of time and eventually the strip mall’s food and water sources dried up. The cockroaches were on the move to the closest Bed & Breakfast they could find. They eventually found the 25% vacant apartment community with a multitude of food sources. Residents observed a few cockroaches here and there, but eventually took occupancy in some vacant apartments eating and drinking without paying rent as they dramatically multiplied. Learn more about the types of Cockroaches and how quickly they multiply.
The multifamily operator called us to mitigate the issue and upon our investigation we developed a several step protocol plan to remove pests from the community. What did we do next? You are right, we called the strip mall management company and signed them on as a client to remove the thriving cockroach population in the neighborhood. The strip mall Intense Protocol is a whole other story…stay tuned.