Free tool gives New Jersey towns daily tick risk scores as tick-related ER visits hit 10-year high

New Jersey residents now have a free way to check tick danger close to home, with daily alerts organized town by town during tick season.

Each morning, TickZone publishes updated risk scores for 564 communities across the Garden State, aiming to give families a better sense of local conditions before a bite even happens.

What's happening?

Rather than offering one statewide outlook, the new TickZone application calculates a separate rating for hundreds of New Jersey towns. 

According to the app itself, "TickZone reads local weather, the tick life-stage, forest cover, and county disease data into a plain 0-100 score, refreshed every day."

These scores are then labeled as Low (0-33), Moderate (34-66), or High (67-100). 

According to WDHA, the site also considers seasonal tick trends, deer-tick disease rates, and which tick species are found locally.

The project grew out of a personal experience for TickZone creator Nathan Burnett, who told Patch he was motivated to act after his brother contracted Lyme disease. 

Burnett explained to the outlet that, "He was lucky. We caught it early and antibiotics cleared it, but a lot of families are not that lucky, and the difference almost always comes down to awareness. That stuck with me."

In April, the CDC reported that tick-related emergency room visits had reached their highest level in a decade, per Patch, making the tool more needed than ever.

To help with this national rise, the platform now extends beyond New Jersey, covering more than 26,800 towns across 38 states. Users can look up which tick species are common in their area, learn which diseases those species may carry, and review prevention tips through the site.

Why does it matter?

Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses may start with seemingly minor symptoms.

A hyperlocal daily score can help with routine choices, whether someone is walking a dog, sending kids to camp, gardening, hiking, or spending time in wooded or grassy areas. 

While statewide alerts still offer useful context, a town-specific reading may be more practical for day-to-day decisions.

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