COVID-19 Rates Highest in Bronx

By David Acevedo

COVID-19 appears to be spreading faster among Bronxites than in residents of the other boroughs. Queens has the most confirmed cases of COVID-19, 52,845. In comparison, The Bronx has 38,973 cases. However, when population is taken into consideration, the Bronx has a higher rate, with 2,649 infections per 100,000 people, compared to Queens, at 2,115 per 100,000.

New York City currently has 173,288 reported cases of COVID-19, 43,676 of those have been hospitalized, 13,938 have died and another 5,359 are marked as probable deaths by the NYC Health Department as of May, 6, 2020. Certain Bronx zip codes have been hit harder than others as the map illustrates.

“COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on communities of color,” said New York City Council Member Vanessa Gibson, in a tweet April 8. Gibson is representative for District 16, and she appealed for more testing sites for The Bronx. “#Bronx residents have higher rates of hospitalizations & sadly deaths. The South/West Bronx must be prioritized with additional Assessment & Testing Sites. TY Colleagues for advocating for our constituents.”

Additional assessment and testing sites would help The Bronx keep the virus under control by  identifying areas where tactics like self-quarantining and social distancing, along with other preventative measures such as face masks and protective gloves, are needed the most.

The lack of testing within the borough has been a controversial topic. New York State has 28 public and private laboratories with clinical laboratory permits from the NYC Department of Health and experience in virology testing. These laboratories have now been opened to the public for manual, semi-automated and fully automated testing for COVID-19 for free. In addition, a private health company, StatCare, has recently opened a new clinic that offers COVID-19 testing in the Bronx on 174th Street, but it isn’t free.

 The NYC Health Department provides frequently updated and detailed data on the confirmed cases within NYC as well as other angles to help better visualize the scope of the outbreak within the city by including specific sets of data such as a case breakdown by borough. In addition, by calling the NYS COVID-19 hotline at 1-888-364-3065 you can set-up an appointment to get tested.