KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — COVID-19 cases in East Tennessee are dropping, but cases of another kind are on the rise.
The Knoxville Lice Clinic said that it has seen many cases where one person will catch lice and it spreads to the entire household. The total number of cases involving people with lice has been on the rise, officials said.
Experts said that the most common way to get lice is by head-to-head contact such as hugging or taking selfies together. The clinic said that they expect to see even more cases of lice as people stop practicing social distancing and restrictions ease.
"People haven't seen each other in a long time," said Jennifer Fribourg, the president of the Knoxville Lice Clinic. "If you haven't had close personal contact and then you're allowed to, you're going to catch lice because you're going to hugging people and you're reuniting."
Experts said that the best to avoid catching lice is to keep your hair up and to avoid close-contact sports. They also recommended people avoid sharing clothes and brushes.
Guidelines on how to prevent and control lice are also available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Officials said that most of the time, people may not know they have lice for the first 6 to 8 weeks. They also said only around half of the people with lice will itch their heads.