BRADLEY BLACKBURN: “I think there are definitely more ticks.”
BRADLEY BLACKBURN: Lauren Klingsberg doesn’t think much about ticks in the middle of Manhattan, but she has a home on New York’s Fire Island, known to have a high tick population.
KLINGSBERG: “I garden, and I have a dog. So I’m out a lot, and I get ticks on me all the time.”
BRADLEY BLACKBURN: According to the CDC, each year, almost half a million Americans are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne illness. The 2026 tick outlook is expected to continue that trend.
EXPERT: “We see a steady increase from year to year, and we expect it to be the same last year and then this year.”
BRADLEY BLACKBURN: Dr. Nicole Baumgarth of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health says the upper Northeast is ground zero for ticks, but a warming climate has helped the population expand further north and push west. And while a cold winter can kill ticks, Baumgarth says heavy snow cover this past season actually provided the insects with plenty of moisture.
EXPERT: “That keeps them alive, and that’s why we’re expecting that it’s going to be a bad season.”
EXPERTS: You have to weigh the bad with the good and not let the tick risk ruin the physical and mental benefits of being outside.
EXPERT: “My recommendation is stay away from any vegetation. Stay on the trails. Don’t touch anything in terms of limbs or branches or certainly vegetation, where they’re waiting to latch onto you.”
BRADLEY BLACKBURN: Klingsberg says she takes precautions.
KLINGSBERG: “I use permethrin-treated clothing. I tuck my socks into my pants and use insect repellent, and I try to keep my dog out of anything green. I will walk him either in the middle of the path or on the beach.”
BRADLEY BLACKBURN: You can also take a hot shower when you come home — all ways to still enjoy Mother Nature safely.
Bradley Blackburn, CBS News, New York.
