The article linked below reports that the extreme slowdown these days in in-house dining in restaurants across the country is having an unanticipated, and potentially dangerous, consequence. And one that probably no one thought of.
The article notes that during normal operations, restaurants will discard leftover food unconsumed by patrons, and that ratpacks living near the restaurants not only eat it, but come to expect it, usually getting it regularly from restaurant dumpsters.
But with in-house dining greatly reduced these days, there is much less discarded foods available for the rats, so that they are now ranging about
, moving around, away from the restaurants, trying to find other sources of food wherever they can.
But this could be bringing them into unexpected contact with humans, as they are possibly moving even now into the suburbs looking for food, with all the dangers that includes, such as confrontations with humans or their pets, and possible spread of disease.
From the article:
"As a result, rats are scampering elsewhere -- including residential areas. Given the circumstances, they may even exhibit "unusual or aggressive" behavior, the CDC said."
" ... the CDC says people should make sure entrances to their homes or businesses are sealed, garbage is disposed in tightly covered bins, and pet and bird food is removed from yards."I bet this advice goes double if one happens to live near a restaurant.
A very good example of the kind of problem something like a pandemic can cause, but which, it's easy to believe, no one ever anticipated.
So what other nasty little surprises, courtesy of the pandemic, are emerging or will do so soon, that would never have come to mind until we see them actually happen?
In this case, maybe a good idea to be a little extra careful when taking the garbage out to the trash can tonight.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/23/us/cdc-rodent-control-rat-restaurants-coronavirus-trnd/index.html