Businesses like yours are getting back into the swing of things: reopening, moving to fuller capacity, and seeing more foot traffic than they have in over a year. It's a welcome change— a sign of healthy people, a healthy economy, and hopefully for you, a healthy business.
With more people come more pests.
Pests rely on humans for food, whether it's garbage thrown in a dumpster, crumbs left on a countertop, or residue settling in a grease trap. As businesses like yours open back up, food is more readily available. Pests that had abandoned low-traffic areas to search for food are coming back in droves.
In cases where businesses were closed for a long time, pests were able to enter buildings and boldly make themselves at home. No one was there to notice them, call attention to the problem, or treat it. If you or businesses near yours elected to stop receiving regular pest control service during the pandemic, that line of defense was removed. And even if you continued to receive services, your neighbors might not have.
Whether it's roaches, bed bugs, rodents, or something else, odds are you're going to see more pests than usual. We can work with you to handle problems proactively and prevent them whenever possible, so your business reopens or ramps up to rave reviews.
Why you're likely to see more pests.
As human activity increases, pests that have gone unnoticed, uninterrupted, and unchecked will be evident—to you, your employees, and your customers. But why the surge? Let's look pest by pest.
Rodents.
When businesses closed during the pandemic, the food shortage for rodents was unprecedented. They entered shuttered buildings, migrated to new areas, and ate anything they could find. And they reproduced. Fast.
Bed bugs.
With global travel restrictions, hotel closures, and personal precautions during the pandemic, you probably saw a huge drop-off in bed bug issues. That's because bed bugs are hitchhikers, coming in on anything from suitcases to baby strollers. As people come back, they could be bringing bed bugs with them. Get ready for a surge. And this doesn't just apply to hotels. Bed bugs can be anywhere, from restaurants to movie theaters to public transportation. If there are people in your business, you're at risk.
Birds.
They may not top your list of pests that keep you up at night, but birds pose a huge threat to the health and safety of your employees and customers. They've had a year to roost and nest on your building undisturbed, and they love to make themselves at home on roofs near HVAC units. Their feathers and powdered droppings can get pulled into the air intake and blown all through your building, introducing a host of airborne diseases.
Cockroaches.
Whether your business was closed or just operating at reduced capacity, there were fewer people around, which meant less running water and fewer flushed toilets. Seldom-used drainage and plumbing systems give cockroaches direct routes from sewer systems straight into your building.
Wildlife.
Abandoned buildings are ideal breeding areas for wildlife like squirrels and raccoons. If an animal has found its way into your building, you might not know it for a while, since entry points are often hard to spot. And once you do notice there's a problem, there's a chance the animal already has a nest with young inside.
Even though COVID is on the way out, health and safety risks aren't.
The increase in pest pressures could expose you, your employees, and your customers to a litany of health hazards you might not have even thought of.
- Exposure to cockroaches and their shed skins can exacerbate asthma and allergies. And one Cambridge University study identified 30 different species of bacteria associated with cockroaches living in close proximity to humans.1
- Rodents use urine trails to communicate with each other. Their urine and feces can contain a host of serious and sometimes deadly pathogens.
- Outdoor pests like mosquitoes and ticks carry everything from West Nile virus to Lyme disease. These pests can be especially prominent if you put landscaping service on hold when your business was closed.
It's important to address these issues early. We can help, through regular service, infestation clean-outs, pest exclusion, Disinfectix site disinfection, outdoor treatments, or a combination of tactics.
Take the smart approach to normal.
Your business has persevered through a lot this past year. Don't let a pest problem be the thing that brings your business down. With the right team in place, you can scale up the right way. We take a three-pronged approach to getting you back to normal.
1. No-obligation enhanced site assessment
We'll inspect your business with a fine-tooth comb for evidence of pest entry and harborage, and formulate a plan to control them.
2. Pest control and prevention
We'll use a combination of techniques which could include: chemicals, traps, drain treatments, and exclusion services to rid your building of existing pests. If you don't have a pest problem? Perfect. We'll do preventive treatments to keep it that way. For locations depending on their outside spaces to stay compliant with distancing guidelines, like restaurants with patios, we can perform bird, mosquito, and tick control and prevention to help protect your business and customers.
3. Site maintenance
We can help you keep your building in top shape with site services like drain cleaning, pest clean-outs, and pressure-washing in areas where pests harbor.
Don't take chances with the health and viability of your business. Take a strategic approach to reopening. Put your Business First, with Terminix Commercial.
Call 1.877.837.6464 to get started.