N.Y. battles bug hotspots

Stubborn uptick in Brooklyn, Orange stirring concern

New York’s worst coronavirus hotspots recorded a combined 5.2% positive test rate even as the pandemic remains under control in the rest of the state, Gov. Cuomo said Saturday.

The 20 hardest-hit zip codes in Brooklyn, Queens and Rockland and Orange counties accounted for more than a quarter of all COVID-19 cases in the state despite comprising just 6% of the population.

A single zip code in Orange County that includes the Orthodox Jewish enclave of Kiryas Joel recorded a shocking 27% positive test rate on Friday.

The 11223 zip code in Gravesend, Brooklyn, had 9% positive and neighboring Midwood was at 6%.

“This pandemic is not over. We continue to closely monitor the data throughout the state, push our testing capacity to new highs and keep an especially close eye on the zip codes in hotspot areas,” Cuomo said in a statement.

The state achieved two key testing milestones: It carried out a record 134,000 tests on Friday and passed the 11 million overall test mark since the beginning of the pandemic.

Out of the 134,000 tests, a total of 1.3% were ppositive. Excluding the 20 hotspot zip codes, the rest of the state registered a 1.05% positivity rate.

Six New Yorkers died of coronavirus Friday, a far cry from the darkest days of the pandemicp last springpg when more than 800 a day were perishing.

The test rate has remained consistently below 1% for many weeks until the recent spike hit some neighborhoods. The entire nation has grappled with an uptick in COVID caseloads that experts blame on Labor Day gatherings and students returning to school and college.

New York officials have i dentified the Jewish High Holidays as a driving factor in the spikes in the hotspots.

The holidays, which are the t most sacred days on the Jewish J calendar, started with Rosh R Hashanah and Yom Kippur and continue with the ongoing festival of Sukkot.

Jews typically hold gatherings in family homes and synagogues during the High Holidays and Succoth includes gatherings in tiny specially built huts.