Latest On Brooklyn’s COVID19 Hotspots – 10/5

Today Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the closing of public and private schools for in-person instruction in the affected zip codes effective tomorrow. Further restrictions on non-essential businesses likely in the coming days in zip codes where COVID-19 rates have remained over 3% for at least 7 consecutive days.

According to the NYC Department of Health, today’s citywide percent positivity is 1.83%, and the 9 ZIP codes in Tier 1 (COVID19 Positivity 3%+) account for over 25% of new cases citywide over the past 2 weeks, despite representing 7.4% of the city’s overall population.

The Health Department has observed an increase citywide in visits to emergency departments for COVID-like illness over the last week.

“I want to really urge people, if you live in any of the areas of concern, the nine key ZIP codes or some of the other ones that are on our watch list, please limit your activity, stay home when you can stay home. Of course, if you’re sick, especially stay home. Wear the face coverings. It’s just something we need people to do consistently, indoors, outdoors, everywhere, obviously, make sure you honor social distancing, avoid gatherings, real basic things,” Mayor Bill de Blasio pleased. “Wash your hands, use hand sanitizers. We need people do all this. And really, especially at this moment, we’ve got to get the clearest possible picture what’s happening in these nine ZIP codes and literally everywhere else in the city. So I want to redouble our efforts to get people tested, more and more free testing has been made available all over New York City. If you live in one of those nine ZIP codes, imperative that you get tested. If you’ve not been tested recently, if you’ve never been tested, go out and get tested. It’s free. It is quick. It’s available all over the city and wherever you live in New York City. If you have not been tested recently, it’s so important that we get a clear picture. The more New Yorkers that get tested, the better.”

Here are the test sites for the foreseeable future, and you can always double check online nyc.gov/covidtest, or call 2-1-2-COVID19 to find free testing locations: