Omicron Wave Saw More Than 100 Deaths In Bed-Stuy ZIP Codes: Data

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — COVID-19 claimed more than 100 Bedford Stuyvesant lives during the two-month surge of the contagious omicron variant, city records show.

A total of 102 New Yorkers living in Bed-Stuy's five zip codes died from COVID-19 in late December and through Jan. 20, according to city data.

The ZIP code seeing the most fatalities was 11221 — a swath of Stuyvesant Heights and Bushwick east of Tompkins Avenue — which lost 30 residents in that span.

The city also reports 969 residents in those ZIP codes have been hospitalized with COVID-19, according to city data.

But data also shows marked improvement in the battle against the contagious variant.

During the seven-day period that ended Monday, 644 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Bed-Stuy's five ZIP codes: a positivity rate of 3.6 percent.

While that's higher than the figures seen in the neighborhood during most of 2021, it is a sharp drop from the previous few weeks. In the last week of December, for example, the positivity rate in the same Bed-Stuy ZIP codes was 22 percent, with around 6,000 residents testing positive

The downward trend also appears to be holding for hospitalizations and deaths — though much damage has already been done.

After an initial period of cautious optimism when rates began dropping in early January, leaders are now talking openly about the encouraging trends.

"Not only is New York City winning in the fight against COVID-19, but we are bringing even more help right to New Yorkers' front doors to continue beating this pandemic," Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement last week, referring to a new effort to deliver antiviral pills to residents.

Similar trends are holding across New York state, whose positivity rate dropped below 10 percent last month for the first time since December.

Elsewhere in the U.S., hospitals have been overwhelmed by a surge in patients caused by omicron, and deaths have continued to rise even as overall cases appear to slow.

Meanwhile, a majority of Bed-Stuy residents have gotten vaccinated — greatly reducing their risk of becoming seriously ill with COVID-19 — though the neighborhood remains less vaccinated than many nearby areas.

In three of Bed-Stuy's ZIP codes, 11205, 11206 and 11233, only between 64 and 67 percent of residents have gotten at least their first dose, among the lowest rates in all New York City ZIP codes.

That is compared to 11216 and 11221, which have the highest vaccination rates in the neighborhood. In those ZIP codes, more than 80 percent of residents have gotten their first dose, data shows.

Here's a look at the latest numbers for all of Bed-Stuy's ZIP codes:

• 11216:
  • 7-day percent positive: 5.01%
  • People tested (reported to date): 2376
  • New people positive (reported to date): 119
• 11233:
  • 7-day percent positive: 3.36%
  • People tested (reported to date): 2710
  • New people positive (reported to date): 91
• 11221:
  • 7-day percent positive: 4.66%
  • People tested (reported to date): 3068
  • New people positive (reported to date): 143
• 11206:
  • 7-day percent positive: 2.81%
  • People tested (reported to date): 6483
  • New people positive (reported to date): 182
• 11205:
  • 7-day percent positive: 2.38%
  • People tested (reported to date): 4581
  • New people positive (reported to date): 109

Nick Garber contributed to this report.