People lining up at Elmhurst Hospital for COVID-19 testing
March 28, 2020 By Michael Dorgan
Queens continues to be the borough hardest hit in New York City by the coronavirus, according to data released by the NYC Department of Health this morning.
Since the beginning of the outbreak, there have been 517 deaths in New York City, with 174 of those deaths in the World’s Borough, according to data released at 10 a.m. by the Department of Health. Brooklyn ranks second with 118 fatalities and the Bronx third at 110.
The number of deaths in Queens is skyrocketing, with the death toll up by 49 (from 125 to 174) from 4 p.m. Friday through to this morning. In less than 24 hours, the number of deaths in the borough has jumped by 40 percent.
The death rate in Queens is outpacing the city as a whole. The number across the city increased from 450 at 4 p.m. Friday to 517 this morning, representing about a 15 percent rise.
More residents of Queens have tested positive for COVID-19 than any other borough. As of 10 a.m., 9,228 of the 29,128 New Yorkers– representing 32 percent– who have tested positive live in the borough.
Brooklyn had 7,789 cases, Manhattan 5,036 cases, the Bronx 5,352 cases and Staten Island had 1,718 cases, according to DOH data as of 10 a.m. today.
NYC Department of Health Dept. 10 a.m. March 28
The mayor has yet to release raw data on a neighborhood basis, despite numerous requests from reporters. Anecdotal evidence from an Elmhurst Hospital doctor indicates that many of those hospitalized with COVID-19 live in the immediate area.
Yesterday, the mayor’s office released some data on a per neighborhood basis– with each area denoted by a zone (Queens zones begin with the number 4). The incomplete data did not say how many people in each zone had been tested nor how many people were positive.
The data just showed the percentage of people who tested positive in a given zone. The number could have been based on 5 tests in a zone or 5,000 depending on the area. It also failed to say how many had been tested positive.
