Midtown, Hell's Kitchen COVID Rates At All-Time Highs: Data

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Weeks into the city's latest COVID-19 surge, virus rates remain higher than ever in Midtown and Hell's Kitchen, where nearly a fifth of people tested positive last week, according to the latest city data.

In the five ZIP codes that span Hell's Kitchen and Midtown, more than 2,600 people tested positive during the seven-day period that ended on Christmas Day: a positivity rate of 17 percent.

That is far higher than any positivity rate on record for the neighborhood. During the citywide virus surge this past January, for example, the positivity rate in those same ZIP codes was just 3 percent. (The city has not released ZIP code data for the initial outbreak in early 2020, when testing was limited.)

The ZIP code with the highest rate — 10036 — covers Hell's Kitchen between West 41st and 49th streets, as well as a chunk of central Midtown that includes Times Square. Its 18.6 percent positivity rate was trailed closely by 10019, covering the northern part of Hell's Kitchen as well as Central Park South.

Virus rates in Midtown and Hell's Kitchen have risen since Patch last reported on them last week — in that period from Dec. 12-18, 1,662 residents of the same five ZIP codes tested positive, for a rate of 8.8 percent.

The highly contagious omicron variant is now the city's dominant strain, according to health officials, and the city as a whole reported 27,774 new positive tests on Tuesday — just behind the record set days earlier of 31,024 new cases.

Midtown and Hell's Kitchen's positivity rates rank around the middle of the citywide pack — across the five boroughs, the positivity rate was 19 percent through Dec. 25.

Hospitalizations still below peak

Crucially, however, hospitalizations remain well below previous peaks — though they are rising.

In Midtown and Hell's Kitchen, 23 residents were hospitalized with the coronavirus during the 28-day period that ended Dec. 14. That is well below the levels seen during previous surges — between March 3-30 of this year, for example, the same ZIP codes had 59 residents hospitalized. (The latest data does not include hospitalizations that happened within the past two weeks, however.)

No residents of Midtown and Hell's Kitchen have died from the virus during those 28 days, according to the city.

The city's vaccination campaign has been credited with the comparatively low hospitalization rate — indeed, city data shows far higher hospitalization rates among unvaccinated people (39 percent, as of Dec. 11) compared to vaccinated people (4 percent).

"We saw it with [the delta variant] and the now we are seeing it with omicron: you are most likely to get sick or hospitalized from any COVID variant, including this variant, if you are not that vaccinated," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. "Vaccination prevents serious illness and it prevents hospitalization."

To find a place to get tested for COVID-19, use the city's official map or visit a walk-in Health + Hospitals site. To get vaccinated or boosted, visit vaccinefinder.nyc.gov.