Coronavirus outbreak has spread to more Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods

New York City’s newest coronavirus outbreak has spread to ten neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, city officials announced on Thursday.

Last week, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported that recent COVID upticks in nine neighborhoods with positivity rates of above 3% in the boroughs were contributing to about a quarter of all new cases citywide. On Thursday, city officials updated infection rates based on 14-day positivity rates in some neighborhoods adding that Fresh Meadows and Hillcrest neighborhoods to the city’s hotspot list.

Far Rockaway-4.74%

Gravesend/Homecrest-6.90%

Midwood-5.62%

Borough Park-6.51%

Bensonhurst/Mapleton-6.31%

Gerritsen Beach/Homecrest/Sheepshead Bay-4.13%

Flatlands/Midwood-4.66%

Kew Gardens (11415)-3.29%

Kew Gardens Hills/Pomonok-3.68%

Fresh Meadows/Hillcrest-3.08%

The city health department is also keeping an eye on a number seven zip codes were COVID positivity rates are increasing but have not broken the city’s 3% threshold.

East Williamsburg/Williamsburg-2.06%

Bedford-Stuyvesant(West)/Clinton Hill/Fort Greene-2.07%

Kensington/Windsor Terrace-2.76%

Brighton Beach/Manhattan Beach/Sheepshead Bay-2.97%

Crown Heights-2.30%

Rego Park-2.66%

Hillcrest/Jamaica Estates/Jamaica Hills-2.69%

Despite the outbreaks, Mayor de Blasio added that the citywide positivity rate continues to remain low. The number of New Yorkers testing positive for the virus based on the city’s seven-day average is 1.52% with the daily rate hitting 1.59%.

In order to fight back outbreaks in Brooklyn and Queens, members of the city’s Test and Trace Corp. set up pop up testing sites, deployed a dozen sound trucks and flooded worrisome zip codes with robocalls urging New Yorkers to get tested, wear masks and maintain social distance.

Nearly 1,000 city personnel have been conducting outreach, inspecting businesses for COVID health compliance and educating residents on how to prevent the spread of the virus since the upticks began over a week ago, according to City Hall.

Between Sept. 29 and 30, 16 violations COVID health violations were issued to businesses in hotspot neighborhoods and 130 warnings were issued.