Mayor Bill de Blasio visits NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst to thank and applaud medical staff on April 17. (Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)
June 5, 2020 By Allie Griffin
New York City will finally reopen Monday, but it comes nearly three months after the shutdown and the death of more that 20,000 New Yorkers — about 6,500 of whom are from Queens.
The city will enter phase one of reopening Monday, with construction, agriculture, hunting, manufacturing and wholesale trade employees returning to work — an estimated 400,000 people.
The virus has killed 6,326 Queens residents and 21,782 New York City residents as of Friday, according to Health Department data.
The death tolls include both confirmed COVID-19 deaths and probable COVID-19 deaths — wherein a person’s cause of death was determined to be coronavirus-related, but the victim did not have a positive COVID-19 test result while alive.
On Wednesday, the city reported no new confirmed coronavirus deaths for the first time since March 12. However, three probable deaths were reported.
Additionally, just 4 percent of people who were tested Wednesday were positive for the virus.
Despite the low infection rate, 202,829 New Yorkers have contracted COVID-19 across the five boroughs since the pandemic took hold of the city.
Queens accounts for the highest infection rate — with 61,949 residents having contracted the deadly disease since March.
