Bayside COVID Rates Tick Up Amid Citywide Rise, Data Shows

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Coronavirus positivity rates in parts of Bayside rose to their highest levels since mid-April recently, amid a citywide uptick in cases.

During the week that ended on Nov. 27th — which includes Thanksgiving — 4.73 percent of COVID tests in Bayside's 11361 ZIP code came back positive, according to the latest city data from the neighborhood.

Rates haven't been that high in Bayside since this past April; shortly before vaccines became universally available in NYC, and months before they were approved for children.

COVID positivity rates during the same seven-day period are slightly lower in other parts of Bayside — 4.09 percent in Bay Terrace and 3.85 percent in Bayside Hills — though all hover around 4 percent positivity.

This uptick comes during a time when citywide seven-day positivity averages reportedly rose to the highest they've been in months, and the statewide COVID case rate soared — bringing hospitalizations up, too.

Notably, case positivity and hospitalizations have been most severe in parts of upstate New York

Gov. Kathy Hochul pledged to support burdened healthcare facilities by postponing some elective surgeries this week at 32 bed-limited, short-staffed hospitals — all of which are in upstate New York, where hospitalizations are up 150 percent according to Hochul.

"We have the tools to fight this pandemic and you can protect yourself and your loved ones by getting vaccinated and encouraging others to get the shot," the governor said on Monday, noting that getting vaccinated is also a way to reduce hospital capacity, since fully vaccinated people are less likely to be hospitalized with the coronavirus.

Vaccination has largely not been an issue in Bayside: More than 84 percent of eligible residents across the neighborhood's three ZIP codes — 11360, 11361, and 11364 — have had at least shot, and of those more than 78 percent are fully vaccinated, data shows.

Those rates are on-par with the borough's overall vaccination rate, and higher than rates in the city at large. Also, vaccination has increased since June, likely bolstered by citywide vaccine mandates and the approval of vaccines for children over the age of 5-years-old.