New York City’s rat population just got a lot bigger.
Calls and texts about social-distancing violations skyrocketed following Mayor Bill de Blasio’s appeal on Saturday for New Yorkers to help stem the spread of the coronavirus by snitching on illegal gatherings, data show.
Before the announcement, the number of daily complaints about improper social distancing ranged from a low of 262 to a high of 963.
But on Sunday — the day after de Blasio rolled out his New Squeal initiative — the figure surged to 1,305, which comprised more than 25 percent of 311’s total 5,123 calls for the day, data show.
The only day that 311 got more overall complaints during the period, which began March 29, was on April 14, when there were 5,191, but only about 17 percent involved social distancing.
All told, the city has fielded 15,199 social-distancing complaints between March 29 and April 19, according to city data.
The location with the most social-distancing complaints was Manhattan’s Central Park, with 59 — 30 of which came just during the week ending Sunday.
The second-largest number that week — 21 — involved the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn.
A Chabad spokesman said the complaints were coming from within its Hasidic Jewish community, where many people “are deeply frustrated and even angry with this tiny group of violators who are disobeying the law and the unequivocal warnings by the rabbinic and medical communities,” as well as “explicit signage” that says the building is closed.
The Wise Towers, a public housing complex in Manhattan that covers most of the block bordered by West 90th and 91st streets and Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, had 18 complaints, the third highest in the city.
The numbers do not include crank complaints that flooded 311 in response to the video de Blasio posted online Saturday, when he urged New Yorkers, “Snap a photo of an offending person or crowd, set the location on the image, and text it.”
“Action will ensue,” Hizzoner added.
Cops have made 19 arrests, issued 143 summonses and handed out 221 fines in connection with alleged violations of social distancing rules from March 17 through Monday, according to the NYPD.
Meanwhile, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams on Monday called for the city to release information about the racial makeup of those arrested and issued summonses in connection with coronavirus-related mandates — as well the ZIP codes where the incidents allegedly took place.
In a statement, Williams said he was seeking the information due to “concerns that enforcement has disproportionately impacted historically over-policed communities of more color, and as these same communities face disparate impact from the COVID-19 crisis.”
