NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday announced 20 ZIP codes in New York State are considered to be “areas of concern” and have seen an alarming increase in COVID cases.
Together, the 20 ZIP codes average a 6.5% COVID positivity rate and are driving a slow uptick in the state’s overall infection rate, which hit 1.3% on Thursday.
“These ZIP codes are not hermetically sealed. People from these ZIP codes go to the surrounding communities, they shop in the surrounding communities, they take buses, etcetera – and that’s how you have community spread,” the governor said.
Cuomo says local government need to start cracking down on COVID violations and mask wearing.
“If they’re not wearing masks, there should be fines, there should be enforcement. Enforcement works,” Cuomo said.
To combat the spread of the virus, the governor announced Thursday that the state is unveiling a new phone application, called COVID Alert NY.
Cuomo is urging all New Yorkers to download the app as a way to easily know if they’re coming into contact with the virus.
He wants New York City residents to especially download the app as 10 of the 20 ZIP codes driving up the COVID positivity rate in the state are located in the five boroughs.
The 10 neighborhoods are part of four “concerning clusters” in Southern Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Central Queens and Far Rockaway being tracked by the Health Department. The 10 neighborhoods, together, have a positivity rate above 3%.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that the percentage of people testing positive citywide was 0.94%, while the percentage of people testing positive on a seven-day rolling average citywide was 1.46%.
City officials are closing monitoring the neighborhoods as over 1,000 city workers are on the ground in those communities.
“Non-public schools were inspected, businesses were inspected, 130 warnings issued, yesterday, 16 violations. Again, the warnings, if not headed, lead to violations and can also lead to the closure of a school or business,” the mayor said.
Fresh Meadows/Hilcrest was recently added to the 10 neighborhoods after it surpassed a 3% positivity rate, health officials said.
Five of the 10 neighborhoods below saw increases from the prior day’s reported based on preliminary data, according to health officials. The areas account for over 27.5% of new cases citywide over the past two weeks despite representing 7.5% of the city’s population.
In addition to the 10 neighborhoods above, health officials have identified seven additional neighborhoods (below) that are showing an increased growth of cases and test positivity between 2% and 3%. Six of the seven areas have seen an increase in the percent of positive tests since the day before, preliminary data shows.
This week, the city deployed 11 mobile testing units to areas with high rates of COVID positivity, tripled the capacity of COVID Express testing sites in Crown Heights and Fort Greene, and is working with community provider offices to supply new rapid testing capacity, health officials said.
The news comes as middle and high school students head back for in-person classes at public schools Thursday and a day after indoor dining returned at 25% capacity citywide on Wednesday.
De Blasio said Wednesday that at least 400 NYPD officers, 250 compliance officers from other city agencies and 300 Test & Trace Corps members were heading to the "target ZIP codes" to distribute masks, provide information and do "when necessary, compliance work."
On Thursday, he reported there is more mask usage in the cluster areas and compliance with the rules is going up but, he says it's still not enough.
“Every opportunity has been given for people to follow the rules as they have been laid out,” the mayor said. “Anyone not following them now is subject to fine and a business not flowing them now is subject to closure.”
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Cuomo said Wednesday if local governments “are unwilling to enforce the law, I will enforce the law.”
The governor said he would have local governments assign a number of their police officers to the overstretched state police task force. “Then I will enforce with the task force and I will ticket people who don’t wear masks,” he said.
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