Park Slope COVID Rates Start Dipping, But Cases Still High: Data

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Weeks after the omicron variant began its alarming surge in New York City, data shows that COVID-19 rates are beginning to dip in Park Slope and around the five boroughs — though cases remain worryingly high.

During the seven-day period that ended on Saturday, more than 1,300 people in Park Slope's two ZIP codes tested positive for the coronavirus — a positivity rate of 18 percent.

While those figures would have been stunningly high just a few months ago, they represent a slight drop from previous days. During the week ending Jan. 1, the neighborhood's average positivity rate stood at 23.4 percent, data shows.

The drop is the first sign of the rates decreasing since the omicron surge began, tripling Park Slope's rates in the weeks before Christmas.

By ZIP code, Park Slope's lowest positivity is found in its main ZIP code, 11215, which also includes parts of Gowanus. In that ZIP code, just over 17 percent of people had positive tests as of Sunday, according to the data.

The northern part of the neighborhood, 11217, had just under 19 percent positivity as of Jan. 9, according to the data.

Local health experts have expressed cautious optimism that New York's omicron wave has reached or has surpassed its peak — specifically in the five boroughs.

"As far as NYC, that has been a plateauing in a sense that we hope will continue," Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday.

Cases in New York City hovered near 50,000 new infections detected a day at the height of the omicron surge.

Data shows those daily cases started to fall this weekend. They stood at 47,591 on Jan. 7, but fell to 32,236 by Sunday, data shows.

Hochul said New York City still leads state regions for hospitalizations — they stand near 75 people per 100,000, according to data.

Through Dec. 29, 43 people in Park Slope's ZIP codes had been hospitalized with COVID-19 in the previous 28 days — a number likely to rise as more recent data becomes available.

Citywide hospitalizations as of Thursday had reached a 7-day average of 518 per day — a drop from Jan. 2, when the city was averaging 847, but still far above any levels that the city has seen in months.

Patch reporters Nick Garber and Matt Troutman contributed to this report.