Heightened Rates Of Coronavirus Detected In Orthodox Areas In BK

BROOKLYN, NY — Two more neighborhoods in Brooklyn have been added to areas where city health officials are monitoring heightened rates of the coronavirus.

Sections of Midwood and Williamsburg — along with Borough Park, where a testing blitz is already underway — are among New York City neighborhoods with large Orthodox Jewish populations where officials are warning of an uptick in the rate of residents testing positive for the coronavirus, according to the department.

The pattern, also detected in two Queens neighborhoods, prompted NYC Health Commissioner Dave A. Chokshi to alert local Orthodox media outlets to what he referred to as "heightened rates" of the virus.

"The neighborhoods experiencing transmission were particularly hard hit in the worst weeks of the pandemic this past spring and we never want to return to those awful days," Chokshi wrote. "We also must emphasize that these communities' past experience with COVID-19, does not guarantee immunity from future transmission."

In Midwood, nearly 3 percent of coronavirus tests were coming back positive at the end of August, compared to about 1.5 percent in surrounding neighborhoods and even lower rates across the city, according to data from the NYC Department of Health.

Certain sections of the neighborhood, which the department declined to identify, saw rates closer to 4 percent, the data shows.

Positivity rates were lower in Williamsburg, where the neighborhood rate was below 1 percent at the end of August. Certain sections of the neighborhood, though, neared a 2 percent positivity rate.

The highest rate was found in Borough Park, where health officials first warned of a potential uptick in mid-August after several cases were connected to a large wedding.

Nearly 5 percent of tests came back positive in the neighborhood toward the end of August and certain sections saw more than 6 percent of tests with a positive result, according to city data.

The positivity rate in surrounding neighborhoods was between 1 and 2 percent at the time.

Officials have said that increased testing and tracing in Borough Park have helped quell the spike. In early September, Mayor Bill de Blasio reported a 2.9 percent positivity rate for Borough Park's 11219 ZIP code.

The Test and Trace Corps response has also been used in Sunset Park, where rates were once nearing 7 percent. Sunset Park's four-week average now stands at 2.3 percent, according to city data.