Brooklyn’s COVID-19 Numbers: Mayor Admits Lack Of Plans

Statewide Positivity Rate is 2.72%, NYC is 2.53%, and Brooklyn is at 2.4%, second-lowest in the city and holding steady. 7-day positivity in Brooklyn is 2.2%.

Statewide, 32 people died from COVID-19 yesterday, of whom 7 in NYC and of those, 4 in Brooklyn.

For the Brooklyn Yellow zone, the positivity rate yesterday was at 4.31%, up from 3.57% the day before, but the 7-day average is at 3.59%, down from 3.92% the week before.

More Brooklynites than ever got tested – 22,956 tests were processed, and 540 people were identified as positive for COVID-19. That is the first time this fall we are in the 500+ new cases a day in Brooklyn. The last time we had this many cases was on May 6.

When reporters asked Mayor Bill de Blasio repeatedly why was there no plan for how to think about reopening schools once they get closed again at 3%, he and Chancellor Richard Carranza were as elusive as ever about plans to reopen schools again, admitting they had not thought about it:

“It’s just there have been a lot of different pieces we had to account for. For a long time, we were doing really well in this city. For a long time, it looked like we could hold off a second wave. We’re still battling the second wave right now. And where we are in the city is so much better than other parts of the country. So our focus was not on what to do if; our focus was getting our schools up and running, unlike any of the large urban school systems in America. It was getting our schools up and running, making them safe, supporting our kids and families. That’s where we’ve been putting our time and energy.

“And in recent days, this the first time we had to confront the notion that we might hit this standard. We’ve been working to set a new standard in a new environment, not a theoretical one, we could have said a long time ago, but a one that actually fits this moment and the facts we know now, and the better information we have on what works. And we’re going to come out with that standard in a matter of days. And it will take a few days to apply it. But our goal is to come back as quickly as possible with even higher standards and make it work. So I, you know, the what-ifs I don’t get lost in. We’ve got work to do right now, but what we do know, which we didn’t know back in August, we now have proof positive, we can keep our kids, our educators, our staff safe. And we’re going to reset the equation for the new facts we have. And make them safe again and get our schools back.” [Emphasis mine]