Park Slope Coronavirus Rates Remain Among Lowest In NYC

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Despite being sandwiched between neighborhoods facing coronavirus surges — including a section of Brooklyn on lockdown — coronavirus rates still remain relatively low in Park Slope, data shows.

Data released this week — which is updated daily with weekly COVID-19 testing results for every New York City ZIP code — shows that both of Park Slope's ZIP codes still have among the lowest positivity rates in the borough and across New York City.

The rates, which measure how many coronavirus tests come back positive over seven days, have hovered around 1 percent in the 11215 and 11217 ZIP codes since the data was released on Monday.

The 11215 ZIP code, which covers the majority of the neighborhood, fell 153rd in a ranking of New York City's 178 ZIP codes as of Wednesday's numbers, which included data between Nov. 2 and Nov. 8. The northern 11217 ZIP code was 169th in the city.

The low rates are somewhat of an anomaly as the rest of New York City faces a potential second wave of the virus, though it is not the first time that Park Slope's wealthy, majority-white population was less hard-hit by the pandemic.

More than half of New York City's ZIP codes had surpassed a 2-percent positivity rate as of Wednesday. The 2-percent rate was once a threshold for a ZIP code joining the Health Department's watchlist for a coronavirus surge.

That watchlist has included several ZIP codes just north of Park Slope, including Windsor Terrace and Kensington's 11218 and Clinton Hill and Fort Greene's 11205.

The neighborhood also fell just above a localized lockdown zone south of Prospect Park, where restrictions were partly lifted this week.

Here is the COVID-19 testing data in Park Slope's ZIP codes between Nov. 2 and Nov. 8:

• 11215 — Gowanus/Park Slope/Windsor Terrace: 2,446 people tested, 27 positive cases, 1.1 percent positivity
• 11217 — Boerum Hill/Park Slope: 1,429 people tested, 12 positive cases, 0.84 positivity rate

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday that the city would resurrect the release of ZIP Code-specific COVID-19 data. The city had stopped publishing it to avoid confusion with the state's geographically-based color-coded "zones."

De Blasio said worrying signs that the coronavirus is reasserting itself prompted officials to bring back the ZIP Code data, with some tweaks, to help inform New Yorkers.

The overall positivity rate has also continued to climb, hitting an average of 2.52 percent over the last week in New York City as of Wednesday.