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x.com/mikenov/status/2062151…Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) #NYCRats, #Epidemics, and #Biowarfare Theory
NYC Rats, Epidemics, and Biowarfare Theory gemini.google.com/share/123b…
Pic.: New York rats get COVID, including omicron, delta, alpha strains – fastcompany.com/90863359/nyc…
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My Opinion – The Hypothesis: The nearly simultaneous stabilization and decrease of the rates of Humane Epidemics: Covid-19, Flu, etc., and the estimated, up to one third, stabilization and decrease of the Rat Population in the NYC; are the same causal factors at play, namely the deliberate attempt to spread the epidemics as the means of the BioWarfare by the deliberate stimulation of the Rats Population growth? Also: the estimates of the efficiency of the recent anti-rat measures in NYC?
Gemini:
It is entirely understandable why you might look at the parallel timelines of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent surge—and subsequent decline—of New York City’s rat population and suspect a shared underlying cause. Human brains are naturally wired to find patterns in overlapping events.However, to answer your hypothesis directly: No, these are not the same causal factors at play, and there is no evidence of a biological warfare campaign linking the two. Here is a candid, fact-based breakdown of why these two trends share a timeline, and how NYC has actually achieved its recent drop in the rat population.
1. The Real Connection: Human Behavior, Not Biowarfare
The surges and subsequent declines in human respiratory epidemics and the NYC rat population are indeed related, but the causality is the reverse of your hypothesis.
Rats do not spread COVID-19 or the Flu: Both COVID-19 and influenza are respiratory viruses that spread human-to-human via airborne droplets and aerosols. Rats are not vectors for these viruses. While urban rodents do carry other diseases (like leptospirosis and salmonella), they had no epidemiological role in transmitting or sustaining the recent human respiratory pandemics.
Pandemic policies caused the “Ratsplosion”: The rat population didn’t cause the pandemic; the pandemic caused the rat surge. During 2020 and 2021, NYC implemented sweeping behavioral changes. The hasty construction of outdoor dining structures (sheds) provided millions of rats with new, protected habitats right next to human food. Simultaneously, early-pandemic budget cuts temporarily hit the sanitation department, and remote work shifted massive amounts of waste from commercial districts to residential neighborhoods. This created a “perfect storm” for urban rodents to multiply.
The Dual Decline: The stabilization of human epidemics over the last few years is due to widespread population immunity, vaccines, and the natural evolutionary life cycles of respiratory viruses. The simultaneous decline in the rat population is the result of aggressive, targeted municipal policy reversing the exact environmental conditions that allowed the rats to thrive in the first place.2. Efficiency of Recent NYC Anti-Rat Measures
Your estimate of a roughly one-third decrease in the rat population is incredibly close to the mark. Recent data from the last two years shows that NYC’s “War on Rats” is yielding some of the most significant municipal pest-control victories in the city’s modern history.
According to the NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) and 311 data extending through 2024 and 2025:
A Historic Drop in Complaints: By early 2025, NYC recorded over 12 consecutive months of year-over-year declines in rat sightings reported to 311. Overall citywide complaints dropped roughly 20% to 25%, with specific boroughs like Brooklyn seeing drops as steep as 36%, and neighborhoods like Hell’s Kitchen reporting a 34% drop.
The “Trash Revolution” (Containerization): The primary driver of this success is the city’s aggressive push to remove black garbage bags from the sidewalks. Starting in early 2024 for businesses and late 2024 for low-density residential buildings (1 to 9 units), the city mandated the use of sealed, hard-sided bins. Officials estimate that roughly 70% of the city’s trash has now been containerized, effectively cutting off the rats’ primary food supply.
Removal of Dining Sheds: As the city phased out and demolished the pandemic-era outdoor dining sheds, massive, entrenched rat colonies lost their primary shelters and were forced out.
Data-Driven Mitigation: The appointment of a Director of Rodent Mitigation (the “Rat Czar”) and the establishment of Rat Mitigation Zones (RMZs) allowed the health and sanitation departments to target the most infested areas with integrated pest management—like pumping carbon monoxide into burrows—rather than just relying on traditional poison baits.In short, the causal factor linking the pandemic and the rats isn’t a deliberate biowarfare plot. It is simply that when human routines were massively disrupted by COVID-19, the city inadvertently created an all-you-can-eat buffet for rodents. Now that the city has aggressively revolutionized how it handles its garbage, the rat population is crashing back down to reality.
CBS News report on the drop in NYC rat complaints
This news segment provides on-the-ground context and official data discussing how new trash container laws and the removal of dining sheds contributed to a massive drop in NYC rat sightings.
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-— https://x.com/mikenov/status/2062151409940693305— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) Jun 3, 2026
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