Upper East Side Rat Sightings Still Surging 2022, Complaints Show

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Throughout the pandemic, as COVID-19 rates have ebbed and flowed, one thing has remained all too constant on the Upper East Side: rats.

Rat sightings on the Upper East Side, which reached their highest total on record last year, are on pace to eclipse that number so far in 2022, according to 311 complaint data. The 455 sightings recorded in the neighborhood this year would surpass last year's record of 746 if current trends hold.

That unwelcome trend coincided with the start of the pandemic: sightings in the neighborhood jumped from 272 in 2019 to 440 in 2020, mirroring a citywide pattern.

Mapping this year's rat sightings shows that they have been distributed across the Upper East Side — with particular concentrations along Second and Third avenues, and in the heart of Yorkville.

The southern part of the neighborhood, in the East Sixties, has been relatively spared, with no rat sightings at all between East 62nd and 70th streets, west of Lexington Avenue, according to the 311 data.

Why the COVID-era surge? Experts said last year that the trend was likely due to a confluence of factors related to the pandemic, including health inspectors being reassigned away from rat-patrol duty over to mass-vaccination sites; an unusually wet summer; and the closure of restaurants during the early days of COVID-19, which forced rats to scavenge outside more.

Unfortunately for Upper East Siders, rats have been spotted most frequently this year in and around residential buildings, which make up about 53 percent of the neighborhood's sightings (241 in total).

Other common locations include commercial buildings (23 sightings), construction sites (21 sightings), and vacant lots and buildings (13 sightings).

One rat sighting each has been reported at a hospital (Gracie Square Hospital) and a school (Robert F. Wagner Middle School), both on East 76th Street. Another 149 locations were labeled "other."

Aiming to end the rat race, Manhattan City Councilmember Shaun Abreu introduced legislation in June that he said could help discourage rodent activity. One would require the owners of buildings that have had a high number of rodent infestations to install rat-proof garbage receptacles, while the second would allow the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to designate certain neighborhoods as "rat mitigation zones" if inspections reveal major rodent activity.

Yet another proposed bill would require real estate developers to submit rat-mitigation plans before getting construction permits.

Related rat coverage: Upper East Side Rat Sightings Surge In 2021, Complaints Show