Rat, rodent sightings increasing dramatically as New Yorkers emerge from pandemic

NEW YORK — As New Yorkers continue to return to their daily routines following the COVID-19 pandemic, city data is showing that rat and other rodent sightings have increased rapidly.

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According to the Associated Press, the city data in New York is showing that there have been more sightings of rats and other rodents than the city has seen in about a decade. The data says that through April 2022, people have called in 7,400 rat sightings to the city’s service request line, up from 6,150 during the same time period last year. It is also up 60% from the first four months of 2019, which was before the pandemic began.

The AP says that there haven’t been as many sightings as this since at least 2010, which had about 10,500 rat sightings. For perspective, last year there were 25,000 reports for the entire year, and it happens that there are more rat sightings during the hotter months. It not only sparks hygiene concerns or fears among people but has become a public health issue. In 2021, at least 13 people were hospitalized and one person died.

Rats and rodents have been an issue in New York City since it became a city. For decades, city leaders have been working to find a way to control the rat population but have not been successful. This is in lare part, according to the AP, because rat problems manifest from human behavior. Rats can live on an ounce of food a day.

“Some New York City restaurants erected curbside sheds to allow COVID-wary diners to eat outside. But unfinished meals left at tables have sometimes drawn brazen four-legged leftover bandit,” says the AP.

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