Ticks! They re summer s most unwelcome guests and are lurking everywhere: on golf courses and hiking trails, in backyard gardens and even in city parks.
And this year appears to be especially bad: Emergency-department visits for tick bites are the highest since 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tick-bite data tracker.
The tick index run by Fordham University s Louis Calder Center is currently at nine out of 10. If you re thinking of taking a hike, consider going to a movie instead, the website says.
Tick numbers are about 30% to 40% higher than last year at this time, says Thomas Daniels, director of the center, a biological field station in Armonk, N.Y., that tracks tick numbers in the tri-state area that includes parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Right now we re at the time where they re at their peak, he says. Usually after July 4 we start to see a slight decline.
