‘It’s pretty much a guarantee you’ll get stung’: jellyfish keep swimmers off Delaware beaches

‘People think we close the water because no one’s going in, but it’s just because people don’t want to get stung. It’s pretty much a guarantee you’ll get stung if you go.’ Photograph: Maya Yang/The Guardian

An unusually high number of jellyfish are crowding Delaware’s beaches this summer amid climate change and other environmental factors – keeping some beachgoers out of the ocean and stinging lifeguards as well as bathers.

Beach safety patrols in the state have reported hundreds of daily stings as the jellyfish have increased with intensifying environmental factors, including warmer waters, hot and dry conditions, and water circulation favorable to the invertebrates.