Project authors: Brianna Andujar, Jonathan Minaya, Alexia Dainty, and Arman Celebi
Due to the high volume of rat complaints in NYC, we conducted a study to see if there was a correlation between Covid-19 protocol measures such as outdoor dining and the rat population.
sydneygreta
December 20, 2022 — 10:19 pm
It is very interesting to see how the pandemic affected the rat population. Based on the fact that many people were at home during the pandemic, I thought the rat population would see a decline. I hadn’t considered the effects of things like outdoor dining, which, evidentially, had a notable impact.
kaylaaaron
December 21, 2022 — 11:12 am
As someone who just moved to the city, I could not be more grateful for a seminar three project. I see rats crossing the streets every day. I am scared that they will keep multiplying and taking over the city. Though many people spoke about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in their projects, this is a very interesting analysis that encompasses changes in human activity to changes in rat behavior and prevalence. The increase of outdoor dining and the inadequite trash collection system are surely contributing factors. This group should take their project to City Council so that they can help address this growing issue.
Elaine
December 21, 2022 — 12:11 pm
This is definitely a topic that I’ve never paid much attention to before. Could it be that there were more total observations of all animals in general in neighborhoods like Bushwick, Lower Eastside, and Upper West side? This may skew the data and lead to the conclusion that there were more rats sighted, when it may be that other neighborhoods simply had less total observations. I would’ve also liked to see data for more outdoor dining or human activity in those neighborhoods, like maybe a count of how many restaurants have setup an outdoor area in a range of five blocks.