Paul Kirby reports in the Daily Freeman that Didi Barrett, an Assemblymember representing parts of Dutchess and Columbia counties is crowing about a forthcoming study of insurance coverage for Lyme disease and recommendations for farmers about how best to protect against the invasive Asian long-horned tick. Barrett authored a bill authorizing the state Department of Financial Services and Department of Health to study the issue. “New York is at the epicenter of a growing Lyme disease public health crisis,” Barrett said in the statement. “In 2017, approximately 9,000 cases of Lyme disease were reported from every corner of the state, and because the disease is so difficult to diagnose, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the actual number of cases could be ten times greater.” Some of the symptoms of Lyme disease are headaches, painful arthritis, joint swelling, and heart and central nervous system problems. Lyme disease is common throughout the Hudson Valley. The state legislature also recently authorized $100,000 for continued support of the The Tick Project, a five-year research program of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies “to determine whether neighborhood-based prevention can reduce human cases of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.” And the legislature awarded grants of $50,000 each to the University at Stony Brook, for research; Cornell Cooperative Extension, for education and outreach; and Columbia Medical Center's Lyme and Tick Borne Disease Research Center. Read more about this story in the Daily Freeman.