300 People Stung by Jellyfish on Isle of Palms

Featured Image Credit: Island Reality
Warm weather and calm water makes for the ideal beach setting but it also leads to some not so perfect traffic, crowded areas and lots of jellyfish to look out for. Recently, close to 300 people were stung by jellyfish this past weekend on Isle of Palms.

“There were just a lot of people out here, and the water was calm, and that’s why we had a lot of stings,” Laura Edwards, assistant manager of Isle of Palms County Park, told Fox 24. “I got stung in the leg and my son was stung in the arm,” said one of the victims, Todd Cattaneo. “It hurt for about thirty minutes and then it was okay after that.”

Caring for a jellyfish sting is pretty simple, but most people don’t go to the beach prepared with the necessary items. Next time you go to the beach come prepared with vinegar, water bottles, and tweezers. It is always better to be safe rather than sorry!

After being stung by a jellyfish, follow these steps as quickly as possible:

1. Thoroughly rinse the area with vinegar.
2. Remove the tentacles while rinsing! The tentacles can continue to sting as long as they are in contact with skin, so glove up and get out your tweezers! No tweezers? Rub sand on the sting to remove the tentacles!
3. Apply ice after. You should feel relief in about 30 minutes to an hour.

Even if you aren’t equipped with these items, it is still critical to remove the tentacles!

Irregardless to the amount of stings, many people were back out on the beach by Sunday- however, this time many visitors opted to stay on land.

“I’ll probably go out about halfway up my leg, but not all the way out, because of the jellyfish,” said Raven Flynn who was visiting the beach.

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