The coronavirus has infected New York City's rats. Why that's bad news for people
Rats, whose populations in cities exploded during the pandemic, have now joined the list of wildlife believed to be capable of catching and transmitting the virus that causes COVID-19, new research finds.
In a study published Thursday in the journal mBio, researchers showed that rats — like dogs, cats, hamsters, ferrets and humans' other close cohabitants — can pick up the pandemic virus from their environment.
