Cape theater acts to eliminate bedbugs, closes one of its auditoriums

A Cape Girardeau movie theater hired a pest-control company to rid the place of bedbugs after receiving complaints from moviegoers, the company’s corporate owner and a public-health official said Wednesday.

Marcus Theatres of Milwaukee, which owns Cape West Cine, said Wednesday the problem has been addressed.

Mari Randa, director of communications for the company, said in an email to the Southeast Missourian complaints were received Friday about “possible bug bites” in one of the movie theater’s 14 auditoriums.

“Management immediately called a professional pest-control provider, who inspected the auditorium in question on Friday evening,” she wrote.

“Bedbugs were discovered, and the impacted area was immediately treated and roped off,” Randa said.

The pest-control provider reinspected the auditorium Saturday and inspected the four adjacent auditoriums Monday, she said.

She said no bedbugs were found during the subsequent inspections.

“The safety of our guests and associates is a top priority at Marcus Theatres,” Randa said, adding the company has decided to close the auditorium and begin its planned remodeling of the cinema a few weeks early.

Amy Morris, supervisor of environmental health for the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, said her office received calls from residents after reports surfaced on social media in recent days that bedbugs had been found at Cape West Cine.

Morris said the health department inspects only the movie theater’s concession stands.

“We don’t look for bedbugs,” she said.

But the health department looked into the situation after receiving a complaint about the bedbugs, she said.

Health department staff spoke with Cape West Cine management Monday and Tuesday.

Morris said bedbugs were found in the back row of one of the auditoriums.

Bedbugs are small, flat, reddish-brown insects that feed on the blood of people and animals, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on its website.

“They are about the size of a tick,” Morris said.

The good news is the bedbugs don’t spread disease, she said.

But the bugs’ bite can cause itching, which can lead to a secondary skin infection, she said.

“It is definitely a nuisance,” she said.

According to the CDC, the best way to treat a bite is to apply antiseptic creams or lotions and take an antihistamine.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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