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Google did temporarily keep employees out of its Chelsea campus in Manhattan after exterminators and a bedbug-sniffing dog found what an internal notice called “credible evidence” of bedbugs in October 2025. The office was not permanently shut down, and the available reporting does not show that Google’s entire New York operation was closed.
Initial treatment was completed quickly, and employees were allowed to return the following Monday. Other Google locations in New York were inspected as a precaution.
What happened at Google’s Manhattan office?
Google’s environmental, health, and safety team warned New York employees about a possible bedbug problem at the company’s Chelsea campus. Exterminators inspected several buildings with help from a detection dog and found “credible evidence of their presence,” according to reporting based on an internal employee communication.
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Employees were told to stay away while the initial treatment was completed. Reporting from WIRED and Gizmodo said workers could return the following Monday.
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The inspection also covered buildings identified in reporting as NYC-9th, Chelsea Market, 8510 and Pier 57. However, that does not establish that every building contained bedbugs. Other Manhattan locations were checked as a precaution rather than reported as closed.
How extensive was the infestation?
The public reports do not provide a bug count, a list of affected floors, a complete map of the campus or evidence that the entire Chelsea complex was infested. “Credible evidence” confirms that inspectors had reason to treat the issue seriously, but it does not describe the infestation’s size or source.
The detection dog’s involvement should also be understood correctly: a canine alert supports further inspection and treatment; it is not a measurement of how many bedbugs were present.
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Google asked employees to report sightings or suspected exposure. Workers who believed they might have carried bedbugs home were advised to contact professional exterminators. The available reporting does not establish how many employees were bitten, whether anyone needed medical treatment, whether bugs were confirmed in employees’ homes or whether Google paid for residential remediation.
Did stuffed animals cause the problem?
Some sources told WIRED that large stuffed animals in Google’s New York offices were associated with the bedbug incident. That claim was not independently verified, and Google declined to confirm it. It should not be presented as the infestation’s cause or “ground zero.”
Why can bedbugs be a workplace problem?
Bedbugs do not need an office to have beds. They can hitchhike on bags, coats, luggage, clothing and furniture, then hide in upholstery, wall coverings, cracks, electrical outlets and other sheltered spaces. Employees moving between homes, offices, hotels and public transport can unintentionally give them more opportunities to spread.
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Commercial pest-control guidance from Terminix describes treatment as a process that may combine inspection, heat, vacuuming, steaming, insecticides, monitoring and repeat visits. A quick reopening after initial treatment therefore does not prove that every possible hiding place has been eliminated permanently; it means the reported initial response had been completed.
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Bedbugs are disruptive and unpleasant, but they are not generally known to transmit disease-causing pathogens to people. Bites can cause itching, skin irritation and allergic reactions. Scratching can break the skin and create a risk of secondary infection, while anxiety, sleep disruption and distress can be significant during an infestation.
That makes the Google incident a workplace-health and disruption issue, not evidence of a dangerous disease outbreak.
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What should an employee do after a suspected exposure?
- Report the sighting. Notify workplace facilities or management and record where and when the suspected insect was seen.
- Do not spread belongings unnecessarily. Avoid moving bags, coats, furniture or other potentially exposed items from the office to other rooms or locations.
- Inspect carefully. Check seams and folds in bags, luggage, clothing and upholstered items. Repeated bites alone do not prove bedbugs, so seek professional identification where possible.
- Clean suitable items safely. Wash and dry items according to their care instructions. Heat from a dryer can be useful for appropriate fabrics, but damaged or heat-sensitive belongings need different handling.
- Get professional advice before discarding furniture or using pesticides. An uncertain exposure does not justify throwing away possessions or treating an entire home without confirmation.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency advises using only registered products according to their labels and warns that foggers and bug bombs should not be relied on as the only bedbug-control method.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Was this Google’s first bedbug incident?
No. Google’s Manhattan offices were also associated with a reported bedbug infestation in 2010, during a broader New York City outbreak. The Guardian reported that the earlier incident involved Google’s 9th Avenue offices after an employee posted about it online.
The 2010 report is historical context, not proof that the 2025 event was a continuous outbreak or that the two incidents had the same source.
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What remains unknown?
- The number of bedbugs found.
- The exact rooms, floors or buildings affected.
- How the bugs entered the campus.
- Whether employees or visitors were bitten.
- Whether any employees confirmed bedbugs at home.
- Whether Google covered home inspections or treatment.
- Whether the initial treatment required later follow-up.
Those gaps matter because headlines describing an “invasion” imply a scale that the public reporting does not establish.
The accurate version of the headline
Google temporarily restricted employee access to its Chelsea campus in Manhattan after a dog-assisted inspection found credible evidence of bedbugs. Initial treatment was completed and workers were allowed to return the following Monday, while other New York offices underwent precautionary checks.
In other words, Google did not permanently shut down an office, and the “nasty creatures” were ordinary bedbugs—not rats, snakes or an unusual animal infestation. The incident was real, but its full scale and cause were not publicly established.
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