Tick paradise (or nightmare) here. This region has high rates of Lyme disease. States like Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware are in the thick of it. The deer tick is abundant here, leading to lots of Lyme, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis cases. Powassan virus has also been reported in the Northeast (e.g., New York, New England states). If you’re in the Northeast, you need to be tick-aware especially in grassy and wooded areas from spring through fall. The good news: no Rocky Mountain spotted fever explosion here (those ticks are rarer in the far Northeast), but RMSF can still occur in Mid-Atlantic states like Delaware and Maryland at lower rates.