Lucas Metropolitan Housing’s high-rise apartment complex on Cherry Street has a bed bug problem.

Inspectors this week found 23 of Vistula Manor’s 160 apartments had evidence of bed bugs, as well as three hallways in the complex.

Joaquin Cintron Vega, LMH’s president and chief executive, said some units were treated Friday for the pests, while others will be treated next week. Once each impacted unit is treated, the housing authority begin weekly preventative treatments, he said.

For resident Bonnie Johnson, waiting until next week isn’t good enough. She said she has been waking up with bites on her arms all week. She doesn’t know how the pests made it into her apartment, she just wants them gone.

“I put all my clothes in the dryer on high heat for an hour and bagged them up,” Ms. Johnson said. “It's like hurry up and wait with them.”

Mr. Vega said typically LMH properties are inspected regularly for bed bugs and other pests, but they’ve cut back on those inspections this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Limiting how many people are going in and out of the buildings was an attempt to curb the virus’ spread.

He said management is working to address the issue at Vistula Manor and to notify residents of upcoming treatments.

“We not only treat the unit that is affected, we treat the unit to the left, to the right, up and down. We take care of the surroundings of the affected unit as well, to make sure that the neighbors do not get affected with the same issue,” he said.

Ms. Johnson said there are other issues at Vistula Manor she wants addressed, too. Multiple machines in the building’s laundry room need to be fixed, and there’s an issue with overall cleanliness in the building, she said.

“This problem isn't going to go away unless they address it,” she said.

First Published November 14, 2020, 9:09 p.m.