As we've seen worldwide, I'm not sure how well turning a public health problem into a political issue will work out. No matter your political slant, politicians just aren't the solution to public health issues, as much as they're needed to administer the legal solutions.

As well as the fact that bedbugs are spreading more and faster due to climate change since they thrive in warmer environments. This problem has been growing and will continue to grow. I worry about when it reaches my own city.

Solutions for such a wide outbreak are scarce, but viable solutions I think would come from the scientific community about effective treatments and long-term changes to keep them at bay. However, as we've seen with COVID, there will be a number who will resist efforts to control the pests as some form of social control, infringing on their right to be scruffy bastards, I suppose.

I do wish Paris the best in finding a long-term viable solution to this, it's a terribly difficult problem to be facing. Especially with intent to host an Olympic games.

[–] DessertStorms@kbin.social 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The assumption that you could ever treat such a crisis as "apolitical" requires the existing power structures to not be designed to literally kill off whole segments of the population (poor people, disabled people, old people, immigrants, anyone defined by capitalism as "burdens").

It's political because they won't act (like they haven't so far) until it threatens the economy they depend on to maintain their power and/or rich households, at which point their solutions will only ever be in defence and service of those things, not the general population.

So sure, in utopia it wouldn't be political and the obvious thing would be that we help society and everyone in it, but that's not the reality we live in, and those in power aren't going to just put their entire ethos to one side to do the right thing, and expecting them to, at this point in time, and especially fresh out of a pandemic that isn't actually over, is extremely naive, at best.

[–] SinningStromgald@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Unless you tent and fumigate the entirety of Paris or heat treat it, meaning bringing the temperature of Paris to ~118° for 90 minutes, the other options are...middling in effectiveness.

Also, neither of those treatments keep bedbugs from reinfesting a second after the treatment concludes. (There are no treatments that do. Zero. Ziltch.) And since bedbugs are hitchhikers that can also hide in the tiniest of cracks and crevices, such as fitting between your wall and socket cover, total and permanent eradication is unlikely. The only possibility is if a bait treatment similar to those used for roaches that alters the DNA of the next generation so they can't reproduce is created and actually attracts bedbugs more than a nice blood filled human.

In dense population centers like Paris total elimination at this point in time is incredibly unlikely. They could with continuous effective treatments bring it under a semblance of control but they will always be there. The Olympics will almost certainly exacerbate the issue.

[–] Blake@feddit.uk 7 points 1 year ago

bringing the temperature of Paris to ~118° for 90 minutes

Ah, so global warming will take care of the problem for us! Finally some good news. /s

[–] GlendatheGayWitch@lib.lgbt 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Let's hope they dont turn violent, like the Krogan after the genophage.

[–] stmcld@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago

Nice reference