With good weather returning, some Wayne residents may want to go out and do yardwork, enjoy a hike, or simply spend time outside. But with tick bite-related hospitalizations reaching record numbers, it might be best to check for pests.
Outdoor activities bring the risk of tick exposure, and with that is the risk of tick-borne illnesses. With tick bite-related hospitalizations reaching record numbers in 2026, a new online tool allows residents to monitor their town's risk for ticks and tick-borne illnesses.
In April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported that tick-related emergency room visits were at their highest level in a decade. As of June, there had been 187 tick-related visits per 100,000 ER trips in the Northeast, according to the CDC, up from 71 per 100,000 in April.
TickZone gives users the ability to learn how at-risk they are for tick bites, what kind of ticks are common in the area, what diseases they may carry, and how to best prevent getting bitten.
More: Riskiest Towns For Ticks In NJ: A County-By-County Breakdown
The online tool, created by Nathan Burnett, analyzes several factors and gives each town a score between 0 and 100 for tick-bite and disease risks.
The scores are calculated using these five signals:
Burnett, who grew up in the Northeast, says ticks had always been "just part of life." It was when his brother contracted Lyme disease that things changed.
"He was lucky. We caught it early and antibiotics cleared it, but a lot of families are not that lucky, and the difference almost always comes down to awareness. That stuck with me," Burnett told Patch. "The frustrating part is that tick risk is intensely local; it can change street to street and week to week, and yet most people have no way to know when it is spiking where they live.
"I built TickZone to close that gap, a simple daily read on the risk in your own town, so people can take a few easy precautions before a bite instead of finding out the hard way," he continued. "If it helps one family catch something early the way mine did, it is worth it."
In addition to analyzing tick risks, TickZone provides resources for people to learn about tick and insect prevention services in their area.
As of Friday, Wayne scored a 50 on TickZone, reflecting a "Moderate risk." Compared to other parts of North Jersey, including Morris and Hunterdon counties, that is a relatively low score.
TickZone says that in this weather, ticks in Wayne will likely stay tucked in shaded leaf litter through the midday heat and pick back up toward dusk.
Towns with High risk in Passaic County were Ringwood Borough, West Milford, Bloomingdale, and Wanaque Borough.
The New Jersey Department of Health says the two species that are of greatest importance for public health tracking are the blacklegged/deer tick and the lone star tick.
While Lyme disease has been prevalent for more than two decades, several other tickborne diseases have been reported in the state in the last few years, including anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Borrelia miyamotoi, ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, spotted fever group rickettsiosis, Powassan virus, tularemia, and Alpha-Gal Syndrome.
The state also offers these reminders about how to avoid tick bites while still enjoying the outdoors:
TickZone provides free tick forecasts daily for more than 12,000 towns across 26 states, including 564 in New Jersey. Click here to learn more about the tool.
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