Dani researchers try to find out if they are spending more time outdoors due to COVID-19 restrictions

At this time of the pandemic, you may be working at home, managing children and their school work, and needing a break. Rest in parks, paths and woods. You may also have more time, so you may also explore new areas and trails and head deep into the forest.

Researchers at five universities, including the University of Rhode Island, want to find out if the restrictions associated with COVID-19 are increasing the number of individuals time The risk of contacting them outdoors and then Tick And they get the illness they have. One of them is a black-legged tick. Deer tickCarry limes and other dangerous pathogens.

To gather information, the team asks people across the country to complete a 10-15 minute survey to see if their outdoor habits have changed. Researchers at Hollins University, Duke University, and Clemson University have joined the University of Georgia and URI as part of the research team.

The study, “To investigate the effect of COVID-19 on the epidemiology of tick-borne diseases in humans and pets,” is led by Georgia faculty member Michael Yabsley.

Tom Mother, a professor of public health entomology at the University of Rhode Island, explains how home stay restrictions change people’s outdoor behaviors and habits, and the risk of developing tick-related Lyme disease and other serious illnesses. Bite said to be an important national survey to understand what enhances. Findings may suggest that limiting self-isolation should be accompanied by increased tick prevention education. Mather, an internationally renowned expert on ticks and the diseases they carry, operates the TickEncounter website and the TickSpotters service.

TickSpotters submitted a photo of ticks found by people across North America on their own or in pets in a cloud-sourced tick survey to confirm tick identification, risk assessment, and manage tick bites to prevent future bites. Provides an opportunity to receive the following best practices for: A survey link was recently emailed to more than 9,000 users of TickSpotters, along with various other groups such as dog owners and social media networks.

“My colleagues and I were clearly seeing the same thing that the government began imposing home restrictions in mid-March, especially when the number of people finding attached mites quickly increased. I saw it. ”

“What we saw at Tick Spotters in mid-March wasn’t four times as rapid as daily submissions when things actually started to lock down. So we’re trying to test in this survey Our theory is that people probably spend more time outdoors because they have to stay home and avoid meetings in large groups. “

Mother said she may have frequently stayed along paved walkways along roads and in parks, even spending time outdoors before the COVID-19 outbreak.

“But they had more time, so maybe,” hey, we’ve never been to that path or path before, so let’s check. ” We may walk a long distance into the woods, but we may not have the best practices for tick prevention or the full knowledge that tick prevention is needed. “

“ We don’t yet have time to carefully analyze the March-April scale submission data, but much more than normal photo submissions are associated with partially or completely engulfed scales that speak to under-educated people. It seems to indicate the ticks they live in, or the need for repellents and daily tick checks. “

Already 2,000 people have completed the survey and are expected to finish it in mid-May, but so far many of the respondents are located in the southern United States.

“We want to make the geographical representation as wide as possible,” Mother said, so we want people in the New England region, where tick-borne diseases are widespread, to complete the study. Area to participate. “

Mother, a long-distance runner and former Boston Marathon rival, said he was running on a dirt road in the neighborhood.

“The man I saw in the woods said he had seen more people in the woods since the outbreak,” Mother said. “All of these potentially increase exposure. Probably more mite exposure is encountered because many people aren’t used to adventure deep in the forest.”