Crown Heights Still On Coronavirus Radar Despite No Shutdown

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — City health officials are still concerned about coronavirus growth in Crown Heights and Williamsburg despite the fact that both neighborhoods are not in the zones where businesses will close on Thursday, according to the mayor.

Mayor Bill de Blasio specifically pointed to the two neighborhoods Wednesday when noting that a new three-zone, color-coded plan outlined by Gov. Andrew Cuomo for local lockdowns doesn't include all areas facing an uptick in coronavirus cases.

The exclusion, though, doesn't mean the neighborhoods are free from concern about the virus, de Blasio said. The state and city are still discussing what precautions to take in those areas, he said.

"We have seen unfortunately the aggressive spread of COVID in those neighborhoods," de Blasio said. "We’re going to keep working in those areas in the community with all of our tools to make sure that we keep the situation contained in those parts of the city."

Cuomo's map marks a departure from the city's approach of targeting ZIP codes, nine of which are hotspots and 13 of which are under a "watch list."

De Blasio had originally proposed a full shutdown in the nine hotspots and a partial shutdown in the "watchlist" areas, which include Crown Heights and Williamsburg.

Instead, the state plan creates three lockdown areas — one in Southern Brooklyn and two in Queens — around more fervent clusters of the virus. Red, orange and yellow zones in each cluster determine the extent of lockdown measures.

Brooklyn "watchlist" ZIP codes spared from the lockdown also include 11205, which covers Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and part of Bed-Stuy. The watchlist includes ZIP codes that show coronavirus growth but have not yet passed a 3 percent threshold on their positivity rate.

Here are the 14-day positivity rates as of Tuesday for the Northern Brooklyn areas not included in the lockdown:

• Bedford-Stuyvesant (West)/Clinton Hill/Fort Greene — 11205 — 1.92 percent
• East Williamsburg/ Williamsburg — 11211, 11249 — 2.25 percent
• Crown Heights (East) — 11213 — 2.41 percent
• South Williamsburg — 11206 — 1.90 percent

Read more about the lockdown rules for the state-drawn zones here.