BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
Heading into the last week of
September, New York City continud
to see a slowing spread of
COVID-19, with positivity rates
threatening to fall below 2 percent
in the days ahead.
As of Sept. 24, according to
the city Department of Health
and Mental Hygiene, the citywide
7-day positivity rate was
down to 2.01 percent, down
from the 2.82 percent recorded
a week prior. Almost every key
indicator that the city’s Health
Department uses to track the
spread of COVID-19 — including
number of total new cases,
hospitalizations and deaths —
are either decreasing or holding
stable.
Just four areas of the Five
Boroughs registered a 7-day positivity
rate of 5 percent or higher
between Sept. 15-21, down from
15 communities which exceeded
5 percent the previous week,
Sept. 8-15. Ten communities
saw 100 or more new infections
between Sept. 15-21, down from
15 the week prior.
Brooklyn dominated the
top 10 list of new COVID-19
cases diagnosed between
Sept. 15-21, with East Williamsburg/
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Wi l liamsburg
(11211/11249) leading the way
with 160 cases. That was followed
by Borough Park (11219,
127 cases); Canarsie (11236, 125
cases); South Williamsburg
(11206, 109 cases), Gravesend/
Homecrest (11223, 109 cases);
Midwood (11230, 107 cases)
and Cypress Hills/East New
York (11207, 104 cases).
Borough Park (6.44 percent)
and Gravesend/Homecrest
(5.13 percent) had the highest
and third-highest 7-day positivity
rates in the city this week,
according to the Health Department.
Two areas of Staten
Island also had positivity rates
exceeding 5 percent: Charleston/
Prince’s Bay/Woodrow
(10309, 5.56 percent, 85 cases)
and Tottenville (10307, 5.04 percent,
30 new cases).
For weeks now, Staten Island
has been the city’s hot
zone, but the latest report
shows some progress. Just
three areas of The Rock were
among the top 10 in 7-day
positivity rates, and only two
neighborhoods were in the
top-10 for total new cases.
Still, the level of COVID-19
transmission remains very
high on Staten Island. The
city’s Health Department reported
a transmission rate of
195.32 cases per 100,000 residents,
well above the citywide
average of 130.84 cases per
100,000 residents.
That knowledge, however,
did not stop anti-vaccine mandate
protests on the island on
Saturday.
Overall, the city hit a milestone
this past week in vaccinations,
with 70 percent
of residents (5,806,017 out of
8,336,817) having received at
least one dose of the vaccine,
and 63 percent of residents
(5,227,149) now considered
fully vaccinated.
Both Manhattan and
Queens have at least 70 percent
of all residents fully vaccinated,
but Staten Island (59
percent), Brooklyn (56 percent)
and the Bronx (55 percent)
A masked protester during Climate Week. REUTERS
continue to lag behind.
The good news, however, is
that all boroughs registered
at least 62 percent of residents
with at least one dose in their
arms.
Of the 10 New York City areas
with the highest 7-day positivity
rate over the past week,
nine of them had fully vaccinated
rates of under 60 percent.
The lone exception was
Fresh Meadows/Hillcrest,
Queens (11366), which had a 67
percent fully vaccinated rate
but also a 7-day positivity rate
of 4.69 percent, with 16 new
cases reported there.
The lack of vaccinations
also seems to be catching up
to residents in Edgemere/
Far Rockaway (11697), which
for weeks has had the lowest
fully vaccinated rates in the
entire city. Just 41 percent of
DONE WITH DELTA?
COVID spread slows in city, but hot spots remain
Continued on page 17
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