Good news, Bronxites. The spread of COVID-19 in New York City’s northernmost borough continues to trend downward, as the Bronx’s average of 135 new confirmed cases per day total entering Monday, is its lowest daily count since mid-June.
While vaccination totals in the Bronx are still relatively low compared to its fellow boroughs — only 59% are fully vaccinated with 68.2% having received at least one dose — the Bronx has the lowest daily caseload per 100,000 residents of the five boroughs.
For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic took full swing in March 2020, no Bronx zip code has a seven-day positivity rate per 100,000 residents higher than the city’s median average of 7.6 cases per 100,000.
Queen’s Breezy Point 11697 zip code and Brooklyn’s Williamsburg 11211 zip code hold the city’s highest seven-day caseload of 33.7 and 24.6 cases per 100,000. By comparison, the Morris Heights 10453 zip code is the highest of all Bronx municipalities with 9.4.
The borough has fallen behind, however, when it comes to getting shots in arms, with only five zip codes passing the city’s 72% vaccination rate median.
Morris Park’s 10461 zip code also has the Bronx’s highest vaccination rate with 78.2%.
Five other Bronx zip codes — Riverdale’s 10471 (76.7%), Parkchester’s 10462 (76%), City Island’s 10464 (74.4%) and Concourse/Melrose’s 10451 (73.2%) and Kingsbridge’s 10463 (71.6%) — continue to outpace the rest of the borough with vaccination rates eclipsing 70%.
In a South Bronx stop on Friday, NYC mayoral candidate and current Brooklyn Borough president Eric Adams, a Democrat, called on the city to scale up its vaccinate incentive amounts in low-income neighborhoods in the city. South Bronx zip codes are teetering around 60% in regards to vaccination rates.
The highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 making up 98% of all new virus cases citywide, but the rate of transmission is plunging thanks to the ongoing vaccination effort, according to the latest New York City Health Department data.
The transmission rate — used to gauge the community spread of COVID-19 — has dropped citywide to 94.52 cases per 100,000 people. Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx are seeing transmission rates below the citywide figure, with numbers far higher in Brooklyn and Staten Island.
Reach Robbie Sequeira at rsequeira@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4599. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter @bronxtimes and Facebook @bronxtimes.
