COVID cases on the rise in Queens neighborhoods
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A map of the city shows a rising number of COVID-19 cases in several Queens neighborhoods. Map via the New York City Department of Health
By Jacob Kaye
Queens has opened back up. Cultural institutions, restaurants and bars have, for the most part, welcomed back unmasked and vaccinated patrons eager to return to pre-COVD days.
But a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases in several neighborhoods in the borough and throughout the city has some officials on alert.
On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio declined to commit to reinstating a mask mandate, though by Tuesday, he said the city would be introducing “new approaches to fighting COVID in this city,” in the coming week.
Citywide, 1.7 percent of COVID tests were positive on a 7-day rolling average, although that number may be slightly inaccurate – fewer people are getting tested as the city has toned down its testing efforts, de Blasio said.
“We’re definitely watching the situation with the cases with concern,” the mayor said during his daily press briefing Tuesday. “Thank god here we have a high level of vaccination.”
The uptick in cases is attributable to the more-contagious Delta variant, which accounted for more than 40 percent of all cases in the city over the past month, according to the city’s health department.
In Queens, several neighborhoods have seen a rise in the number of positive cases, including East Elmhurst, Bellerose, Queens Village, Maspeth, Glendale, Ridgewood and Howard Beach. All seven neighborhoods have a positive test average somewhere between one and two percentage points above the city average.
Other neighborhoods in Queens also have positive test averages slightly above the city’s average, including Fresh Meadows, Forest Hills, Rego Park, Kew Gardens Hills and Arverne.
However, hospitalizations and deaths have stayed down across the city and in the neighborhoods with rising cases – both metrics have decreased citywide over the past week.
The borough’s vaccination rate – around 59 percent of all Queens residents eligible for the vaccine have been fully inoculated – has begun to level off. After seeing a quick rise in the winter and spring, the number of people getting vaccinated this summer has cooled off.
But in the Queens neighborhoods where cases are rising, vaccination rates don’t always differ too much from the citywide average and, in some cases, far exceeds it.
In East Elmhurst, which has a positive test rate of 3.07 percent, around 63.38 percent of eligible people have been fully vaccinated.
And in Douglaston, which has a positive rate of 2.6 percent, around 66.68 percent of residents have been fully vaccinated.
However, some neighborhoods with rising cases also have lower vaccination rates than the city’s average, including Howard Beach, Glendale, Ridgewood and Arverne.
