A dog walker passes a social distancing sign at Domino Park on May 8. AP photo
NEW YORK – Coronavirus cases are popping up in the wealthier neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Manhattan that were not affected by the pandemic, city health officials said Tuesday.
As the infection rate increases among New Yorkers in their 20s, the geography of the virus has also changed, and young adults now contract the disease outside of the peripheral working-class areas that have been the epicenter.
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“We are seeing cases in parts of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn among that age group, which do not exactly overlap with our poverty and racial disparities that we have seen in the past,” said Dr. Jay Varma, senior advisor for public health in the mayor’s office.
As the pandemic cut a deadly course in the city, where it had killed more than 23,000 people, low-income neighborhoods in the outer districts suffered the majority of cases and most deaths. Black and Latino New Yorkers have died at twice the white rate.
The spread of the virus has slowed dramatically from its height, but the city is still seeing several hundred new cases every day. Total cases have been relatively stable, but the data shows that the infection rate is increasing for New Yorkers in their 20s, while it is decreasing for people over 40.
The neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn, Brooklyn, which were largely saved before the pandemic, are among those now seeing increases among young adults as the city reopens.
“Some of the areas that we are seeing more of these [infections] these are areas that we had not seen increases in cases prior to this, ”said Varma.
Authorities pointed to young adults who had been quarantined in their homes to venture out and socialize more as the main driver of the increase, although they have not identified exactly where the new cases are transmitted.
“People are now moving more. They are socializing more, “said Varma. “The most important way we stopped transmitting was to keep people separate from each other. People were essentially confined to their homes. “
Restaurants and bars reopened for outdoor service on June 22, and gatherings of up to 25 people are now legal as long as social distancing is maintained.
Varma said it was “possible” that people have become infected in recent protests against police brutality, but argued that the protests are unlikely to be the main cause.
“It is certainly possible that people who were away from home in the protests could have contracted the infection there, but it is also possible that they have also contracted the infection in any one of several other places,” he said. “This is not directly related to any event, but rather just a combination of increased social mobility.”
With many New Yorkers still out of work and struggling to pay for food due to the pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio also announced that the Mayor’s Fund has raised $ 54.5 million in cash and donations for Covid-19 relief.
The money goes to restaurant grants, health worker meals, aid payments for immigrants who cannot get federal funds, and other programs. The city also plans to offer micro-grants for survivors of domestic violence, authorities said.
“It is not just the worst healthcare crisis in a century. It is the worst economic crisis in 90 years since the Great Depression, which we are facing right now. And there just aren’t enough resources to help people, “said de Blasio.
The city’s health care system is prepared for the possibility that the current level of infection, several hundred new cases per day, may continue indefinitely, although authorities are still hoping to reduce it, De Blasio said.
“If we were at this exact level, we could protect people. We have a lot of hospital capacity. Our body of evidence and tracking can track the number of cases that arrive each day on a daily basis. We could continue to advance in our city at this level, but obviously our goal is to do better, ”he said. “What we are discovering is that, in fact, we can maintain our healthcare system with even several hundred new cases per day.”
He praised Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to tighten quarantine rules, requiring travelers from states with high infection rates to complete contact forms or to be fined.
“We will constantly be at risk of importing cases from other parts of the country,” Varma said.
