Los Angeles is facing a new public health risk from a massive rat infestation largely ignored by local officials; raising serious concerns over ‘medieval’ illnesses re-emerging across the country’s second largest city.
“An ever-growing number of rodents in California — particularly in Los Angeles — is being fueled by a spiking homeless population and restrictions on rodenticides that are risking a public health crisis, according to a study released Tuesday,” reports Fox News.
“The report by political action committee Reform California cites recent rodent-related events over the past six months, including an employee at the Los Angeles Police Department contracting Typhus and a rat falling from the ceiling of a Buffalo Wild Wings onto the menu of a patron, as proof of an ‘undeniable problem’ in the Golden State,” adds Fox.
“California is being overrun by rodents,” said Carl DeMaio, chairman of Reform California. “Without immediate emergency action by state and local government, we face significant economic costs and risk a public health crisis.”
“Contrary to common belief, being bitten by a rodent is rare and is not the most common way diseases are spread. Nonetheless, reports of city workers being bitten by rodents is on the rise – with most recent cases being reported in Los Angeles,” the report notes. “Two other vehicles of transmission are far more prevalent: fleas and urine droppings.”
The report comes weeks after officials confirmed a massive infestation at Los Angeles City Hall.
Experts are now blaming the infestation on “homeless camps” circling the public property.
“When faced with complaints earlier this year from city workers about rats infesting L.A. City Hall, most city officials said little about whether the problem was connected to several homeless camps right outside,” reports the Los Angeles Times.
“But a newly uncovered report from a pest control company hired by the city has raised fresh questions about whether officials wrongly downplayed that possibility during discussions at City Council meetings,” adds the newspaper.
According to the pest control company hired to clear city hall, workers found “poor sanitary conditions” including human waste, food, and needles throughout the property.
“The homeless are using the grated areas above the pits as their bathroom and relieving themselves,” wrote David Costa, building construction and maintenance superintendent. “This is also attracting the rats. Custodial will need to do some hazmat cleaning of the grates and the pits. There are even hypodermic needles being tossed in the pits along with human waste and other garbage.”
The invasion comes after two LAPD officers were diagnosed with Typhus and other serious diseases related to the city’s rat population.
Los Angeles continued its ongoing struggle with rampant homelessness and crumbling infrastructure weeks ago, with residents complaining of “rotting trash piles” that are attacking rats and posing a major risk to the health of residents and tourists.
“Rat-infested piles of rotting garbage left uncollected by the city of Los Angeles, even after promises to clean it up, are fueling concerns about a new epidemic after last year’s record number of flea-borne typhus cases,” reports NBC Los Angeles.
“Even the city’s most notorious trash pile, located between downtown LA’s busy Fashion and Produce districts, continues to be a magnet for rats after it was cleaned up months ago. The rodents can carry typhus-infected fleas, which can spread the disease to humans through bacteria rubbed into the eyes or cuts and scrapes on the skin, resulting in severe flu-like symptoms,” adds the article.
“I can’t walk down the street without thinking that a flea could jump on me,” complained a local business owner.
Read the full report at Fox News.
'BREAKDOWN OF CIVILIZATION': LA Times SLAMS City Officials over Homeless Crisis, Rat Invasion, Garbage Piles
A columnist with the Los Angeles Times unloaded on city officials this week over the region’s escalating homeless crisis, ongoing invasion of rodents, and “sky-high” garbage piles taking over the streets.
“Los Angeles looks as if it’s digging out from a hurricane, with hordes on the streets, tents everywhere and armies of rodents on the march, inciting fears of disease.,” Steve Lopez wrote in his column, which appeared online Saturday night.
“I could give you a hundred breakdowns of what happened and what it all means, but it comes down to this: We’re in troubled waters on a ship without a captain, and though there might be a few pretenders on the bridge, nobody trusts them,” adds Lopez.
“We found out on Tuesday that although the city and county spent $600 million last year to chip away at the number of homeless people, the total increased by 16% to nearly 60,000,” adds the author.
“I naively invited readers last week to email me photos of trash heaps and encampments in their neighborhoods, and my inbox is about to explode,” he wrote. “I’ve got photos of half-clothed people passed out on pavement, sidewalks blocked by tents, bulky items, piles of poop and enough trash to fill the Grand Canyon.”
The current rat invasion sweeping across Los Angeles extended into an unlikely place last week: City Hall. Experts are now blaming the infestation on “homeless camps” circling the public property.
“When faced with complaints earlier this year from city workers about rats infesting L.A. City Hall, most city officials said little about whether the problem was connected to several homeless camps right outside,” reports the Los Angeles Times.
“But a newly uncovered report from a pest control company hired by the city has raised fresh questions about whether officials wrongly downplayed that possibility during discussions at City Council meetings,” adds the newspaper.
According to the pest control company hired to clear city hall, workers found “poor sanitary conditions” including human waste, food, and needles throughout the property.
“The homeless are using the grated areas above the pits as their bathroom and relieving themselves,” wrote David Costa, building construction and maintenance superintendent. “This is also attracting the rats. Custodial will need to do some hazmat cleaning of the grates and the pits. There are even hypodermic needles being tossed in the pits along with human waste and other garbage.”
The invasion comes after two LAPD officers were diagnosed with Typhus and other serious diseases related to the city’s rat population.
Read the full story at Fox News.
‘LIKE DANTE’S HELL’: Los Angeles Airport Named ‘WORST AIRPORT IN THE WORLD’
Travel guidebook Fodor’s issued their ‘Travel Awards’ this week; officially labeling Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) the “worst airport in the world.”
“When you fly to a city like New York or D.C., you choose an airport based on location, quality and the amount of added time airport shenanigans add to your travel plans,” said the managing editor for Fodor’s. “In Los Angeles, you also have a choice: between the behemoth time-suck that is Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) or the straightforward, shenanigan-free experience that is Burbank airport.”
“For the poor souls who aren’t merely killing time in a layover, those who woefully call this their point of dis- or embarkation, they are forced to endure the purgatorial nightmare of traffic that leads to and from each of LAX’s nine terminals (as many terminals as Dante’s hell has circles),” she added.
Making matters worse for LA residents, the city continues to struggle with its rapidly escalating homeless crisis.
Los Angeles officials claimed they were “stunned” last week when new data showed a whopping 16% increase in the city’s homeless population in just one year; saying residents are now facing an “unprecedented” level of poverty.
“Despite an increase in spending on initiatives meant to get people off the streets, homelessness is up dramatically in Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, officials said Tuesday,” reports The Week.
“The annual count of the homeless found there are nearly 59,000 people living on the streets, in shelters, or in cars in Los Angeles County, up 12 percent from last year. More than 36,000 are in the city of Los Angeles, a 16 percent increase,” adds the website.
“At this point of unprecedented wealth in the county of Los Angeles, we are equally confronted with unprecedented poverty manifesting itself in the form of homelessness,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas told the Los Angeles Times.
“Overall, the service portion of the effort on mental health, substance use, the issue of housing, rent subsidies, those are important and we should stay the course,” he said. “Where we have to work much harder is in the area of affordable housing.”
Read the full story at USA Today.
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