Forest Hills' COVID-19 Rates: Where Things Stand

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — After weeks of record-low COVID cases, Forest Hills' coronavirus rates have started to rise again in recent weeks, part of a citywide trend that health officials have attributed to the spread of the more contagious Delta variant.

Since the week that ended on June 19, the percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back positive has been above 1 percent in Forest Hills' 11375 ZIP code. Since the end of May, by comparison, rates were below 0.88 percent positive, and dropping — until now.

This recent uptick in COVID cases follows a citywide trend, which is most visible in the city's least vaccinated neighborhoods, though Forest Hills and some other well-vaccinated neighborhoods are seeing a slight uptick in COVID cases, too.

"The spread of the Delta variant means that it is perhaps the most dangerous time to be unvaccinated," Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said Monday. "My message is to convey a clear sense of urgency that we have to make sure as many people are as protected as possible in the next few weeks."

Dr. Chokshi reiterated that message on Wednesday, when a new study and citywide data showed that the city's vaccination campaign has prevented about 250K new coronavirus cases, 44,000 hospitalizations, and 8,300 COVID-related deaths this year.

According to the data, over 98 percent of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths related to COVID-19 this year were in unvaccinated people.

By contrast, under 1.6 percent of COVID-related cases, hospitalizations, and deaths were in fully vaccinated people.

In Forest Hills more than 63 percent of eligible residents have had at least one shot, and of those more than 60 percent are fully vaccinated, data shows. While those rates exceed — or are on par with — the borough's overall vaccination rate, and rates in the city at large, they haven't increased much since the beginning of June.

And even though shots have slowed down in Forest Hills and citywide, the city is continuing its campaign and calling on the unvaccinated to get a jab.

In recent weeks, in an attempt to expand the city's vaccination campaign, in-home COVID vaccinations are now open to all New Yorkers, and vaccines are still available at hundreds of citywide sites.

"The stakes are so high, and we simply cannot emphasize enough how urgent it is for New Yorkers to get vaccinated," said Dr. Chokshi on Wednesday.

Patch editor Nick Garber contributed to this report.