In a development that will surprise no one who has ever spent five minutes in a New York City subway station, scientists have discovered that the city’s rats are now on board with the latest public health trend. According to a study published in the journal mBio, researchers found that a number of rats scurrying around the five boroughs have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, which strongly suggests that the rodents are not just chasing pizza slices but also carrying mutated variants of the virus for good measure. Who knew pest control needed a virology degree?
During the study, which took place back in the halcyon days of autumn 2021 when people were still arguing about vaccine mandates and trying to remember what “endemic” meant, researchers grabbed 79 rats from Brooklyn. Presumably not with their bare hands, although the paper is distressingly silent on that point. Out of these generously donated samples, about 16 percent tested positive for prior exposure to the virus while a smaller group, presumably the overachievers of rat society, had active infections from variants including Alpha, Delta and the now-retired Omicron. It’s unclear whether the rats are eligible for boosters or just waiting for the bivalent crumb on the sidewalk.
The findings suggest that rats could serve as a so-called “secondary reservoir” for the virus. In plain English, this means COVID might be bunkering down in rat populations like an unwanted houseguest who refuses to leave and occasionally brings snacks. Since viruses tend to mutate when given ample networking opportunities and hosts to mingle with, scientists are now ringing a large metaphorical bell about the possibility of new variants emerging from these rodent cliques. Apparently, even rats are not content to just be passive vessels in this public health drama.
As far as transmission from rat to human, the risk is considered low, because evidently there is some good old-fashioned social distancing still happening between man and vermin. However, the concern is that if enough rats are infected and allowed to evolve their own rat-centric iterations of the virus, a jump back to humans becomes a real possibility. Essentially, COVID may one day take the Q train with some entrepreneurial rat who’s decided to go bipedal.
For now, public health authorities are suggesting the usual New York protocol of not touching rats, not sharing your vape with rats and perhaps not inviting them into your home for tea and virus sequencing research.
Because when it comes to surviving in New York, even the rats want a pandemic side hustle.