The coronavirus has caused a lot of suffering and a lot of sacrifice. Now the CDC is warning that rodents are getting more aggressive indirectly because of the virus.

The CDC warns that since so many restaurants are closed due to the quarantine that rats have been deprived of the food that they usually scavenge out of the dumpsters. As a result, the rats are becoming more brazen and the CDC is warning that pest control services may see an “increase in service requests related to rodents and reports of unusual or aggressive rodent behavior.” There’s a sentence you never want to see: “unusual or aggressive rodent behavior.”

If that’s not enough to haunt your dreams, the CDC also warns about the prevalence of fleas on rats and the incidence of “flea borne disease.” So, what do they recommend? Monitor the rodent population (ew!) and clean up after any rodent infestations. Also, since these marauding emboldened rats are hungry, bait stations are a good idea. As you might expect, the CDC also warns that you should try to “rodent-proof” the outside of your home and clean up garbage and vegetation.

Sweet dreams.

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