‘Cryptic’ COVID variant found in NYC sewers may be from rats: study

The next variant of the coronavirus may come courtesy of NYC’s rat population.

A new study published this month in the journal Nature Communications has attempted to trace the origins of mystifying virus fragments found over the last year in New York’s sewage. The “cryptic lineages” surfacing from the city’s dank underbelly are different than all known COVID variants, leading scientists to believe a curious new version of the virus may be percolating in the boroughs’ sewage.