GREATER SPRINGFIELD – The COVID-19 shelter-in-place advisories have left many with fewer exercise options than normal. One that’s been encouraged is to get outdoors and get some fresh air daily, keeping social distancing in mind.

For many people and families, that suggestion has kindled a desire to hit the hiking trails at a local park or wooded area. It’s great exercise for all ages, and, by its nature, can be either a solitary or an easily social distanced activity.

This break from indoor life brings with it another health concern, however. Even though the nights are still cool, many days have reached the 50s and above in temperature, and that means people heading into wooded areas need to think about ticks and tick protection.

“Anytime it gets warmer than 50 degrees, [ticks] are out there looking for a host to get blood from,” Natasha Wright, a board-certified entomologist with Braman Termite & Pest Elimination of Agawam, told Reminder Publishing. She noted the mild winter – which lacked a hard frost that would have killed the majority of the area’s ticks – coupled with several unusually warm days of late have resulted in early tick activity in the region.

Ticks, Wright said, have a one-to-three-year life cycle, and those that are active right now are hungry, and know where to be to get a meal. “Imagine a blade of grass [in a shady area]- a tick will go to the tip and hold its legs out – this is called questing – and when something brushes against that blade, it latches on,” Wright said. Common areas that ticks inhabit include ”shady moist areas, really tall grasses, wood lines and shrubbery,” Wright said. “Basically anything overgrown and wooded.” A well-mowed yard, with short grass and plenty of sun is less likely to harbor ticks, she added.

It is the black-legged or deer tick – which can carry Lyme disease among other illnesses – that is of major concern for humans and animals, although Wright said the American dog tick and the brown tick are also already active. Wright urged people who may have stopped tick treatments for their pets during the winter months to begin again immediately to protect both their animals and their families.

Hikers and walkers should already be taking the warm-weather tick precautions when they head into wooded areas, Wright said. That includes wearing long sleeves, long pants tucked into socks, a hat and using a repellent containing DEET on exposed skin. “Around 30 percent [DEET] is the maximum that you need” for protection from ticks, Wright said. “You can get 100 percent, but you are wasting 70 percent of it; you don’t need it.” Serious hikers might want to apply permethrin to clothing and equipment, she added.

Individuals should also get in the habit of doing a tick check of themselves, family members and their animals after a walk or hike in a wooded area. “Ticks like to be where your clothes are close to the body, at the sock line and ankle, around the waist at the beltline, in the groin area,” Wright said.” If you can't inspect [an area] well, have a loved one check it.”

Time does make a difference when it comes to ticks and disease, she stressed.

”If you remove the tick within 24 hours, the chances of getting a disease are reduced,” Wright said, adding the belief is “when a tick bites you, it secretes a cement-like substance that keeps them attached, but it takes time for them to do it.” If you find a tick attached to yourself or a loved one, Wright said you should “grab it as close to skin as you can with tweezers and gently pull up” to remove it. Smothering the tick with vaseline or other folk tick-removal methods can irritate the tick, causing it to regurgitate its stomach contents and upping the likelihood it will pass on Lyme or another disease, she added.

According to WebMD, early signs and symptoms of Lyme disease include fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, and swollen lymph nodes - all also symptoms common in the flu. In up to 80 percent of Lyme infections, a rash [usually bulls-eye shaped] is one of the first symptoms.