April 2, 2020

A Month of Coronavirus in New York City: See the Hardest Hit Areas



The coronavirus has ravaged all of New York City, closing schools, emptying streets and turning stadiums into makeshift hospitals. But data made public by city health officials on Wednesday suggests it is hitting low-income neighborhoods the hardest.

83
104
362
253
638
255
397
108
470
Coronavirus cases by ZIP code
332
BRONX
208
386
264
376
25
306
377
255
308
367
355
302
267
116
227
217
50
10
100
500
1,000
337
106
304
176
170
55
174
126
252
204
290
147
162
110
MANHATTAN
212
59
104
189
190
27
105
211
134
187
121
85
378
331
104
49
144
119
64
116
123
QUEENS
45
492
213
113
947
113
148
121
13
364
288
85
222
166
101
831
101
140
161
318
181
96
106
181
319
68
156
112
418
122
164
195
21
250
405
601
26
163
149
17
25
184
329
293
425
155
216
245
204
151
182
202
260
16
182
117
130
162
183
225
127
358
173
100
350
223
394
332
261
178
267
254
211
162
85
343
85
344
350
264
416
97
771
106
61
386
175
209
631
534
BROOKLYN
86
101
364
289
316
436
251
346
452
178
110
348
STATEN ISLAND
133
143
278
25
146
336
170
67
By The New York Times·Source: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
During the first month of the outbreak in the city — the epicenter of America’s coronavirus crisis — many of the neighborhoods with the most confirmed virus cases were in areas with the lowest median incomes, the data shows. The biggest hotspots included communities in the South Bronx and Western Queens.
The data, collected by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, offers the first snapshot of an outbreak that infected more than 40,000 and killed more than 1,000 in the city in its first month.
The coronavirus has spread into virtually every corner of the city, and some wealthier neighborhoods have been overrun with cases, including some parts of Manhattan and Staten Island. But that may be because of the availability of testing in those areas. Nineteen of the 20 neighborhoods with the lowest percentage of positive tests have been in wealthy ZIP codes.
The patterns are even more striking when analyzing the data on people who visited the city’s 53 emergency rooms with the “flulike symptoms” that are a hallmark of the coronavirus.
Over all, nearly three times as many people with “flulike symptoms” like fever, cough or sore throat visited city emergency rooms this March when compared with the same month in previous years.
Over the last four years, there were on average 9,250 flu-related visits to emergency rooms in March; this March, the number tripled to about 30,000.

Flu-Related E.R. Visits by ZIP Code

Circles are sized by the number of flu-related visits by residents in each ZIP code.


Average of March
visits in 2016-19
March 2020
By The New York Times·Note: Data shows the rate for E.R. visits per 1,000 people. Source: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
The increases in flu-related emergency room visits varied widely by neighborhood, with many of the surges occurring among residents of neighborhoods where the typical household income is less than the city median of about $60,000, the data shows.
In Corona, Queens, for example, the median household income is about $48,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That neighborhood is near the Elmhurst Hospital Center, which Mayor Bill de Blasio has cited as the hardest hit hospital in the city. Doctors in the overwhelmed emergency room there have described the conditions as “apocalyptic.”

Visits in Central Harlem were up 220 percent.
BRONX
Corona saw nearly 1,000 more flu-related visits than average.
Where Flu-Related E.R. Visits Have Increased
MANHATTAN
Circles are sized by the increase in the number of flu-related E.R. visits by residents in each ZIP code for the month of March in 2020, compared with 2016-19.
• Yellow circles indicate ZIP codes in which the median household income is less than the city median, which is about $60,000.
 Blue circles indicate areas with higher median incomes.
QUEENS
On the north shore of Staten Island, flu-related E.R. visits doubled.
BROOKLYN
STATEN ISLAND
By The New York Times·Data shows the rate for E.R. visits per 1,000 people. Source: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Dr. Jessica Justman, an epidemiologist at Columbia University in Manhattan, said the numbers were most likely because many immigrants and low-income residents live with large families in small apartments and cannot isolate at home.
“I think unfortunately this is showing how devastating that can be,” Dr. Justman said.
In New York, experts said, a vast majority of people visiting emergency rooms with flu-like symptoms probably have the coronavirus.
“We’ve actually stopped testing for the flu because it’s all coronavirus,” said Bruce Farber, chief of infectious disease at North Shore University Hospital, part of Northwell Health, a network of 23 hospitals throughout the state. “Almost anybody who has an influenza illness right now almost certainly has coronavirus.”
Many of the emergency rooms with the biggest increases in patients who have flulike symptoms are in Queens, the borough that has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases. There are about 616 confirmed cases for every 100,000 residents in Queens, and 584 confirmed cases for every 100,000 residents in the Bronx. That’s far more per 100,000 than the 376 in Manhattan and 453 in Brooklyn.
With infections across all five boroughs, New York has far more confirmed cases than any other city in the United States.

Coronavirus cases
Coronavirus deaths
3,000
150,000
100,000
2,000
All U.S.
cases
All U.S. deaths
50,000
1,000
New York City
March 1
March 31
March 1
March 31
By The New York Times·Sources: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; New York Times database of coronavirus cases in the U.S.
The emergency room data also tracks admissions — the number of E.R. visitors who end up treated at a hospital. On that metric, the data shows that older visitors are far more likely to be admitted than younger visitors.
There is a simple reason for that difference, according to the hospital officials and experts: The coronavirus seems to take a bigger toll on older people, as well as those with compromised immune systems.
“I don’t think that infection rates are necessarily different between older and younger people,” said Dr. Isaac Weisfuse, the former deputy head for disease control at the city’s Department of Health. “Elderly have worse clinical outcomes than younger patients, and may have more pre-existing conditions.”

E.R. Admissions for Flulike Illness and Pneumonia

Per 100,000 people


Ages 0-17
18-44
45-64
65-74
75+
30
15
Jan.
Jan.
Jan.
Jan.
Jan.
March
March
March
March
March
By The New York Times·Source: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Over all, more than 8,500 people have been hospitalized with the coronavirus in New York City. That number is expected to soar in the coming weeks.
But officials are hopeful that the social distancing restrictions put in place by the state may have finally started to at least slow the spread of the coronavirus. They have noted that the number of hospitalizations is now doubling every six days, instead of every two or three days.
The city’s data shows a slight decline in emergency room admissions over last weekend, and then continuing increases this week.
Dr. Denis Nash, an epidemiologist at the City University of New York’s School of Public Health, said it was still too soon to tell whether the social distancing restrictions were working.
“It may be too soon to say what’s really going on here,” he said. “I just hope it means something good.”

Coronavirus Cases by Neighborhood

ZIP code
Neighborhood
Total cases
Cases per 1,000 people
11368
West Queens
947
9
11373
West Queens
831
9
11219
Borough Park
771
9
10467
Bronx Park and Fordham
638
7
11230
Borough Park
631
8
11211
Greenpoint
601
6
11204
Borough Park
534
7
11372
West Queens
492
8
10469
Northeast Bronx
470
7
10314
Mid-Island
452
5
11691
Rockaways
436
7
11385
West Central Queens
425
4
11375
West Central Queens
418
6
11236
Canarsie and Flatlands
416
5
11432
Jamaica
405
7
10468
Bronx Park and Fordham
397
6
11213
Central Brooklyn
394
6
11210
Flatbush
386
6
10453
Central Bronx
386
5
11370
West Queens
378
12
10462
Southeast Bronx
377
5
10461
Southeast Bronx
376
8
10452
High Bridge and Morrisania
367
5
11234
Canarsie and Flatlands
364
4
11377
West Queens
364
5
10466
Northeast Bronx
362
5
11434
Jamaica
358
6
10456
High Bridge and Morrisania
355
4
11218
Borough Park
350
5
11208
East New York and New Lots
350
4
11235
Southern Brooklyn
348
5
11223
Southern Brooklyn
346
5
11226
Flatbush
344
4
11203
Flatbush
343
5
10451
High Bridge and Morrisania
337
8
10312
South Shore
336
6
10458
Bronx Park and Fordham
332
4
11207
East New York and New Lots
332
4
11369
West Queens
331
10
11206
Bushwick and Williamsburg
329
4
11374
West Central Queens
319
8
11367
Central Queens
318
8
11229
Southern Brooklyn
316
4
10032
Inwood and Washington Heights
308
5
10457
Central Bronx
306
5
10473
Southeast Bronx
304
6
10472
Southeast Bronx
302
5
11435
Jamaica
293
5
10029
East Harlem
290
4
10304
Stapleton and St. George
289
8
10016
Gramercy Park and Murray Hill
288
6
10306
South Shore
278
6
10465
Southeast Bronx
267
7
11225
Flatbush
267
5
10033
Inwood and Washington Heights
264
5
11220
Sunset Park
264
3
11413
Southeast Queens
261
7
11221
Bushwick and Williamsburg
260
4
10460
Central Bronx
255
5
10475
Northeast Bronx
255
6
11212
Central Brooklyn
254
4
10463
Kingsbridge and Riverdale
253
4
10025
Upper West Side
252
3
11214
Southwest Brooklyn
251
3
10002
Lower East Side
250
4
11412
Jamaica
245
7
10459
Hunts Point and Mott Haven
227
5
11233
Central Brooklyn
225
3
11420
Southwest Queens
223
5
10011
Chelsea and Clinton
222
5
10031
Inwood and Washington Heights
217
4
11418
Southwest Queens
216
6
11355
North Queens
213
3
10128
Upper East Side
212
4
10021
Upper East Side
211
5
11422
Southeast Queens
211
7
11209
Southwest Brooklyn
209
4
10040
Inwood and Washington Heights
208
5
10024
Upper West Side
204
4
11201
Northwest Brooklyn
204
4
11421
Southwest Queens
202
5
11379
West Central Queens
195
6
10023
Upper West Side
190
4
10028
Upper East Side
189
4
10019
Chelsea and Clinton
187
5
11237
Bushwick and Williamsburg
184
4
11238
Central Brooklyn
183
4
11419
Southwest Queens
182
4
11205
Northwest Brooklyn
182
4
10009
Lower East Side
181
4
11427
Southeast Queens
181
8
11215
Northwest Brooklyn
178
3
10305
Stapleton and St. George
178
5
10455
Hunts Point and Mott Haven
176
5
10301
Stapleton and St. George
175
5
10454
Hunts Point and Mott Haven
174
5
11417
Southwest Queens
173
6
10027
Central Harlem
170
3
10309
South Shore
170
6
11365
Central Queens
166
4
11423
Jamaica
164
6
11429
Southeast Queens
163
6
11414
Southwest Queens
162
6
11357
North Queens
162
5
11216
Central Brooklyn
162
3
10003
Lower East Side
161
3
10075
Upper East Side
160
8
11378
West Queens
156
5
11433
Jamaica
155
5
11411
Southeast Queens
151
8
11415
Southwest Queens
149
8
11101
Northwest Queens
148
5
10035
East Harlem
147
5
10308
South Shore
146
5
11106
Northwest Queens
144
4
11694
Rockaways
143
7
10014
Greenwich Village and Soho
140
5
11354
North Queens
134
3
11224
Southern Brooklyn
133
3
11217
Northwest Brooklyn
130
4
11231
Northwest Brooklyn
127
4
10026
Central Harlem
126
4
10022
Gramercy Park and Murray Hill
123
4
10013
Greenwich Village and Soho
122
5
10065
Upper East Side
121
5
11004
Southeast Queens
121
8
11358
North Queens
119
4
11416
Southwest Queens
117
5
10036
Chelsea and Clinton
116
5
10039
Central Harlem
116
5
10001
Chelsea and Clinton
113
5
11364
Northeast Queens
113
4
11428
Southeast Queens
112
6
11356
North Queens
110
5
11692
Rockaways
110
6
10037
Central Harlem
109
6
10034
Inwood and Washington Heights
108
3
10303
Port Richmond
106
5
10030
Central Harlem
106
4
11366
Central Queens
106
8
11102
Northwest Queens
105
4
10471
Kingsbridge and Riverdale
104
5
11105
Northwest Queens
104
3
11103
Northwest Queens
104
3
10010
Gramercy Park and Murray Hill
101
3
11228
Southwest Brooklyn
101
3
11426
Southeast Queens
101
5
11436
Jamaica
100
5
10310
Port Richmond
97
5
11222
Greenpoint
96
3
11693
Rockaways
86
7
11361
Northeast Queens
85
4
11104
Northwest Queens
85
4
11232
Sunset Park
85
4
11239
Canarsie and Flatlands
85
7
10470
Northeast Bronx
83
6
10038
Lower Manhattan
76
4
10012
Greenwich Village and Soho
68
3
10307
South Shore
67
5
10018
Chelsea and Clinton
66
7
11362
Northeast Queens
64
4
10302
Port Richmond
61
4
11360
North Queens
59
4
10474
Hunts Point and Mott Haven
55
5
10044
Upper East Side
49
5
10017
Gramercy Park and Murray Hill
45
3
11363
Northeast Queens
27
4
10007
Lower Manhattan
26
4
10005
Lower Manhattan
25
3
10464
Southeast Bronx
25
6
11697
Rockaways
25
8
10280
Lower Manhattan
17
2
10004
Lower Manhattan
16
6
10006
Lower Manhattan
6
2
By The New York Times·Source: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene