There are some homeless drug addicts in our neighborhood and I would not be surprised at needles at night or early morning in some nooks or gutters here or ther

There are some homeless drug addicts in our neighborhood and I would not be surprised at needles at night or early morning in some nooks or gutters here or there, but the only place I have seen needles in the middle of the day on the sidewalk is near Civic Center. Still, even if there were regularly needles lying around, the chances of stepping on a needle are vanishingly small. (Have you ever stepped on a needle while wearing shoes? People going barefoot are paying a lot closer attention to the ground.) The chances of picking up something from that are much smaller still. Needles pass diseases when people re-use them to inject stuff into their blood, not when they accidentally step on one. If worried about disease, there is probably a (still very tiny but) significantly higher risk of stepping on disease-carrying poop while having a cut on the foot.