Like reading a news story about a person getting scurvy, hearing about a modern metropolis getting beset by rat-borne illnesses almost seems like getting thrown back in time to the Dark Ages.
But, no, this time it was not a problem afflicting an impoverished medieval village, but rather one of the largest cities in the entire developed world: New York City.
While the city has been allocating resources toward prosecuting former President Donald Trump for the crime of winning the 2016 election, it has descended further and further into a state of squalor.
As reported Wednesday by CBS News, not only have rats in New York become ubiquitous in the worst way possible, but levels of rat-related sicknesses have reached their highest annual rate last year.
The New York City Health Department has been warning the populace of the increasing cases of a disease spread by contact with rat urine.
According to the department, leptospirosis is caused by bacteria in infected animals’ urine. It usually causes flu-like symptoms (aches, chills, stomach trouble) but, if left untreated, can cause kidney failure, liver failure or meningitis.
CBS News reported that Mayor Eric Adams and city health officials have been working on methods of containing the disease and the disgusting rats, including sterilizing the animals (since rat poison has been outlawed) and encouraging citizens to use gloves when handling garbage or food waste.
Still, seeing as a single rat pair could breed 15,000 descendants in one year and the city’s garbage containment plan is expected to take at least two-and-a-half years, suffice to say New Yorkers’ rat-related woes are far from over.
The reason this trashcan is so important is because diseases linked to RAT URINE (leptospirosis) are spreading in the filth that was once a great American city. There aren’t enough trashcans in the world to solve the problems that sanctuary cities have brought to America. https://t.co/qQyOD5JXBi
— Amy (Doc) CHAI, MD 4Congress CT-3 (@docchai2022) April 19, 2024
If only funds to help deal with this issue were not allocated somewhere else.
Such as the civil fraud case and criminal “hush money” prosecution against Trump.
According to NewsNation, the latter trial, which got underway this week, could cost New York City up to $2 million, with $50,000 spent on security measures alone (assuming the trial lasts a minimum of six weeks).
A six-week trial in Donald Trump’s hush money case could cost New York City as much as $2 million, one legal analyst estimates. The city could spend about $50,000 per day on safety precautions.
More: https://t.co/z3jBIoyaCd #MorningInAmerica pic.twitter.com/FkkwnpUL8l
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) April 16, 2024
Taking a former president to court requires security, road closures and many other disruptions, not to mention the mountains of cash required to maintain those precautions.
While this legal circus has gone on much longer than necessary, average New Yorkers have been living with a pest problem straight out of the Dark Ages.
City and state Democratic leaders instead have prioritized a political witch hunt against the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee.