A Month of Coronavirus in New York City: See the Hardest-Hit Areas

The coronavirus has ravaged all of New York City, closing schools, emptying streets and turning stadiums into makeshift hospitals. And data made public by city health officials on Wednesday suggests it is hitting low-income neighborhoods the hardest.

83

104

Riverdale

362

253

638

255

397

108

470

Coronavirus cases by ZIP code

332

Bronx

208

386

264

376

25

306

377

255

308

367

355

302

267

116

227

217

50

10

100

500

1,000

337

106

304

176

170

55

Harlem

174

126

252

204

290

147

162

110

Manhattan

212

59

104

189

190

27

105

Bayside

211

Astoria

134

187

121

85

378

331

104

49

144

Flushing

119

64

116

123

Long

Island

City

Jackson Heights

Midtown

Queens

45

492

213

113

947

113

148

121

13

364

Chelsea

288

85

222

166

101

Corona

831

101

140

Greenpoint

161

318

181

Greenwich

Village

96

106

181

319

68

156

112

418

122

Williamsburg

164

195

21

250

405

601

26

Middle Village

163

149

17

25

Jamaica

184

329

293

425

155

216

245

Bushwick

204

151

Brooklyn

Heights

182

202

Fort

Greene

260

16

182

Bedford-Stuyvesant

Cypress

Hills

117

130

162

Ozone Park

183

225

127

358

173

100

Park

Slope

350

Red Hook

223

394

332

261

Brownsville

178

267

East New York

254

211

162

85

Howard Beach

343

Sunset Park

85

344

350

East Flatbush

264

416

St. George

Flatbush

Canarsie

97

771

106

61

Borough Park

Flatlands

Bay Ridge

386

175

209

631

534

Brooklyn

86

101

Bensonhurst

364

289

316

436

251

346

452

178

110

Sheepshead Bay

Staten Island

348

Brighton

Beach

133

New Dorp

143

278

Great Kills

25

146

336

170

Tottenville

67

Coronavirus cases by ZIP code

Bronx

10

Manhattan

50

500

Queens

1,000

Brooklyn

Staten

Island

Coronavirus cases by ZIP code

Bronx

10

50

500

1,000

Manhattan

Queens

Brooklyn

Staten

Island

By The New York Times·Note: The map shows total number of cases as of April 1. Source: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

During the first month of the outbreak in the city — the epicenter of America’s coronavirus crisis — many of the neighborhoods with the most confirmed virus cases were in areas with the lowest median incomes, the data shows. The biggest hot spots included communities in the South Bronx and western Queens.

The data, collected by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, offers the first snapshot of an outbreak that infected more than 40,000 and killed more than 1,000 in the city in its first month.

[Read the latest coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in the New York area.]

The coronavirus has spread into virtually every corner of the city, and some wealthier neighborhoods have been overrun with cases, including some parts of Manhattan and Staten Island. But that may be because of the availability of testing in those areas. Nineteen of the 20 neighborhoods with the lowest percentage of positive tests have been in wealthy ZIP codes.

The patterns are even more striking when analyzing the data on people who visited the city’s 53 emergency rooms with the “flulike symptoms” that are a hallmark of the coronavirus.

Over all, nearly three times as many people with “flulike symptoms” like fever, cough or sore throat visited city emergency rooms this March when compared with the same month in previous years.

In the last four years, there were on average 9,250 flu-related visits to emergency rooms in March; this March, the number tripled to about 30,000.

Flu-Related E.R. Visits by ZIP Code

Circles are sized by the number of flu-related visits by residents in each ZIP code.

Average of March

visits in 2016-19

March 2020

Average of March

visits in 2016-19

March 2020

March 2020

Average of March

visits in 2016-19

By The New York Times·Note: E.R. visits are calculated to show the rate per 1,000 people. Source: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

The increases in flu-related emergency room visits varied widely by neighborhood, with many of the surges occurring among residents of neighborhoods where the typical household income is less than the city median of about $60,000, the data shows.

In Corona, Queens, for example, the median household income is about $48,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That neighborhood is near the Elmhurst Hospital Center, which Mayor Bill de Blasio has cited as the hardest-hit hospital in the city. Doctors in the overwhelmed emergency room there have described the conditions as “apocalyptic.”

Visits in Central Harlem were up 220 percent.

Bronx

Corona saw nearly 1,000 more flu-related visits than average.

Where Flu-Related E.R. Visits Have Increased

Manhattan

Circles are sized by the increase in the number of flu-related E.R. visits by residents in each ZIP code for the month of March in 2020, compared with 2016-19.

• Yellow circles indicate ZIP codes in which the median household income is less than the city median, which is about $60,000.

• Blue circles indicate areas with higher median incomes.

Queens

On the north shore of Staten Island, flu-related E.R. visits doubled.

Brooklyn

Staten Island

Visits in Central Harlem were up 220 percent.

Bronx

Corona saw nearly 1,000 more flu-related visits than average.

Where Flu-Related E.R. Visits Have Increased

Circles are sized by the increase in the number of flu-related E.R. visits by residents in each ZIP code for the month of March in 2020, compared with 2016-19.

• Yellow circles indicate ZIP codes in which the median household income is less than the city median, which is about $60,000.

• Blue circles indicate areas with higher median incomes.

Manhattan

Queens

On the north shore of Staten Island, flu-related E.R. visits doubled.

Brooklyn

Staten Island

Where Flu-Related E.R. Visits Have Increased

Circles are sized by the increase in the number of flu-related E.R. visits by residents in each ZIP code for the month of March in 2020, compared with 2016-19.

• Yellow circles indicate ZIP codes in which the median household income is less than the city median, which is about $60,000.

• Blue circles indicate areas with higher median incomes.

Visits in Central Harlem were up 220 percent.

Bronx

Corona saw nearly 1,000 more flu-related visits than average.

Manhattan

Queens

On the north shore of Staten Island, flu-related E.R. visits doubled.

Brooklyn

Staten Island

Where Flu-Related E.R. Visits Have Increased

Circles are sized by the increase in the number of flu-related E.R. visits by residents in each ZIP code for the month of March in 2020, compared with 2016-19.

• Yellow circles indicate ZIP codes in which the median household income is less than the city median, which is about $60,000.

• Blue circles indicate areas with higher median incomes.

Visits in Central Harlem were up 220 percent.

Bronx

Corona saw nearly 1,000 more flu-related visits than average.

Manhattan

Queens

On the north shore of Staten Island, flu-related E.R. visits doubled.

Brooklyn

Staten Island

Where Flu-Related E.R. Visits Have Increased

Circles are sized by the increase in the number of flu-related E.R. visits by residents in each ZIP code for the month of March in 2020, compared with 2016-19.

• Yellow circles indicate ZIP codes in which the median household income is less than the city median, which is about $60,000.

• Blue circles indicate areas with higher median incomes.

Visits in Central Harlem were up 220 percent.

Bronx

Corona saw

nearly

1,000 more

flu-related

visits than

average.

Manhattan

On the north shore of Staten Island, flu-related E.R. visits doubled.

Queens

Brooklyn

Staten Island

By The New York Times·E.R. visits are calculated to show the rate per 1,000 people. Sources: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; 2014-18 American Community Survey

Dr. Jessica Justman, an epidemiologist at Columbia University in Manhattan, said the numbers were most likely because many immigrants and low-income residents live with large families in small apartments and cannot isolate at home.

“I think unfortunately this is showing how devastating that can be,” Dr. Justman said.

In New York, experts said, a vast majority of people visiting emergency rooms with flu-like symptoms probably have the coronavirus.

“We’ve actually stopped testing for the flu because it’s all coronavirus,” said Bruce Farber, chief of infectious disease at North Shore University Hospital, part of Northwell Health, a network of 23 hospitals throughout the state. “Almost anybody who has an influenza illness right now almost certainly has coronavirus.”

Many of the emergency rooms with the biggest increases in patients who have flulike symptoms are in Queens, the borough that has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases. There are about 616 confirmed cases for every 100,000 residents in Queens, and 584 confirmed cases for every 100,000 residents in the Bronx. That’s far more per 100,000 than the 376 in Manhattan and 453 in Brooklyn.

With infections across all five boroughs, New York has far more confirmed cases than any other city in the United States.

Coronavirus cases

Coronavirus deaths

3,000

150,000

100,000

2,000

All U.S.

cases

All U.S. deaths

50,000

1,000

New York City

March 1

March 31

March 1

March 31

Coronavirus cases

Coronavirus deaths

3,000

150,000

100,000

2,000

All U.S.

cases

All U.S. deaths

50,000

1,000

New York

City

March 1

March 31

March 1

March 31

By The New York Times·Sources: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; New York Times database of coronavirus cases in the U.S.

The emergency room data also tracks admissions — the number of E.R. visitors who end up treated at a hospital. On that metric, the data shows that older visitors are far more likely to be admitted than younger visitors.

There is a simple reason for that difference, according to the hospital officials and experts: The coronavirus seems to take a bigger toll on older people, as well as those with compromised immune systems.

“I don’t think that infection rates are necessarily different between older and younger people,” said Dr. Isaac Weisfuse, the former deputy head for disease control at the city’s Department of Health. “Elderly have worse clinical outcomes than younger patients, and may have more pre-existing conditions.”

E.R. Admissions for Flulike Illness and Pneumonia

Per 100,000 people

Ages 0-17

18-44

45-64

65-74

75+

30

15

Jan.

Jan.

Jan.

Jan.

Jan.

March

March

March

March

March

Ages 75+

30

15

Jan.

March

65-74

30

15

Jan.

March

45-64

30

15

Jan.

March

18-44

30

15

Jan.

March

0-17

30

15

Jan.

March

By The New York Times·Note: The chart shows E.R. admissions as of March 31. Source: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Over all, more than 8,500 people have been hospitalized with the coronavirus in New York City. That number is expected to soar in the coming weeks.

But officials are hopeful that the social distancing restrictions put in place by the state may have finally started to at least slow the spread of the coronavirus. They have noted that the number of hospitalizations is now doubling every six days, instead of every two or three days.

The city’s data shows a slight decline in emergency room admissions over last weekend, and then continuing increases this week.

Dr. Denis Nash, an epidemiologist at the City University of New York’s School of Public Health, said it was still too soon to tell whether the social distancing restrictions were working.

“It may be too soon to say what’s really going on here,” he said. “I just hope it means something good.”