COVID: Bronx curbing spread, still inching forward in vaccinations

Entering Monday, Bronx County has reached 196,600 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with a seven-day average of 182 new confirmed cases per day, according to the state’s recent health data released on Oct. 3.

Additionally, the county has a seven-day positivity rate of 1.9%, which was the second-lowest of the five boroughs over the past two weeks.

Entering Monday, there were 1,070,000 confirmed cases in New York City, with 70.7% of the population vaccinated.

Various areas in the Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island boroughs have surpassed the city’s median of 10.8 cases per 100,000 residents. In the Bronx, the Country Club/Throggs Neck 10465 zip code has the borough’s highest total of 14.6 cases per 100,000.

The Bronx is slowly inching toward a 70% vaccination threshold, with 908,627 Bronxites (66.2%) have received at least one dose and 774,477 (56.5%) residents fully vaccinated.

Only four areas in the Bronx have surpassed the city’s median 71% vaccination rate for area zip codes: Morris Park’s 10461 zip code area (77.1%), Riverdale’s 10471 (77%), Parkchester’s 10462 (74.5%) and City Island’s 10464 (73.8%).

Not Taking Your Shot?
Neighborhoods with the lowest vaccination totals in the Bronx, as of Oct. 1

Edenwald/Wakefield (10466) – 57.2%
Hunts Points (10474) – 57.8%
Allerton/Baychester/Pelham Gardens/Williamsbridge (10469) – 59.4%
Claremont (10456) – 60%
Charlotte Gardens/Tremont/Van Nest/West Farms (10460) – 60.6%

It’s clear, according to city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, that vaccination status has a major effect on COVID-19 diagnosis with cases among unvaccinated New Yorkers contracting the virus at a rate of 63.3 cases per 100,000 people this past week.

Although there have been breakthrough cases with vaccinated people, at 9.1 cases per 100,000 this week, they have not resulted in any reported deaths.

On Monday, the city’s vaccine mandate for all educators and staff went into full effect, backed by a refusal from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to entertain NYC teachers’ appeal of the vaccine requirement.

Michael Mulgrew of the United Federation of Teachers said that 97% of its members have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Employees who have not been vaccinated or granted an exemption will be moved to “leave without pay” status. The vaccine mandate deadline ended on Friday afternoon, Oct. 1, for the NYC school district, which has 1.1 million students. The system has about 148,000 employees, including 48,000 teachers, the DOE reported.

Mulgrew estimated an additional 1,000 people were vaccinated over the weekend who are working in schools Monday. The city Department of Education (DOE) said Friday 90% of all DOE employees, 93% of teachers and 98% of principals have received at least one dose.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people should get vaccinated even if they have already been infected by the virus. The agency says COVID-19 vaccines offer better protection than natural immunity and help prevent getting re-infected.

Reach Robbie Sequeira at rsequeira@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4599. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter @bronxtimes and Facebook @bronxtimes.