New York City to close schools and businesses after uptick of Covid-19 cases in nine neighbourhoods

A further 11 areas are described as being of real concern by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio

Schools and non-essential businesses in nine New York City neighbourhoods will close again due to an uptick in coronavirus cases, mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday.

Each of the hard-hit areas in Brooklyn and Queens has a testing positivity rate of more than three per cent over a seven-day period.

The mayor’s plan must be approved by Governor Andrew Cuomo and is the first major reversal of the city and state’s staged reopening process.

The nine neighbourhoods include parts of South Brooklyn, Far Rockaway, and Central Queens.

Zip codes 11691, 11219, 11223, 11230, 11204, 11210, 11229, 11415 and 11367 fall under the new guidelines .

Mr de Blasio said that extra resources would be provided to these areas, and that “when presented with new information, we must act. We won’t risk the progress we’ve made.”

Many of the areas mentioned have large communities of Orthodox Jews which have seen a rapid spread of the virus over the past few weeks.

Closures will be in effect from Wednesday, 7 October.

The mayor emphasised that there had been no issues in schools in the areas but that the city must be proactive to protect the safety and health of New Yorkers.

New York has only recently returned to in-person classes. Closures effect both public and private schools.

Restaurants will only be permitted to provide to-go and pick-up services — a blow to businesses that have been permitted to set up outdoor dining for months, and, as of five days ago, indoor dining at 25 per cent capacity.

“Today, unfortunately, is not a day for celebration,” Mr de Blasio said. “Today is a more difficult day.”

A further 11 neighbourhoods were described as being of real concern by the mayor. These comprise of zip codes 11205, 11211, 11249, 11235, 11234, 11213, 11218, 11374, 11366, 11432 and 11365.

New York City was the global epicentre of Covid-19 cases in March and April but has successfully kept its testing positivity rate below one percent for months through a measured reopening plan. 

Statewide, the number of cases has begun to climb north of 1,000 per day since 29 September, a level not seen since 6 June.

To date, the city has seen more than 251,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus — statewide that number is 463,000.

There have been 23,844 officially recorded deaths in the city and a further 2,000 across the rest of the state.