Mayor: 16 new COVID cases in Borough Park

Following an uptick in coronavirus cases in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, the city has seen an increase in nearby Borough Park, Mayor de Blasio said Wednesday.

The city has identified 16 positive cases in the predominantly Jewish nabe, some of them linked to a recent large wedding, according to Hizzoner.

De Blasio, calling the cases “an early warning sign,” said “We are working immediately to galvanize community leaders, to work with [the] Test and Trace Corps,” the branch of city Health and Hospitals overseeing COVID testing.

The city is distributing masks at houses of worship and replicating its efforts in Sunset Park, where city employees have been getting people tested and knocking on doors to spread the word.

Details of the Borough Park wedding were not immediately known, but de Blasio said the event was in violation of state law under which gathering halls are not allowed to

Disgraced R&B star R. Kelly’s Brooklyn trial — which will involve numerous out-of-state witnesses — has been delayed by the coronavirus.

Brooklyn Federal Judge Ann Donnelly nixed a tentative Sep. 29 date for the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer’s trial on Wednesday, operate at more than 50% capacity or host more than 50 people. Asked if the city is going to punish people involved with the wedding, de Blasio said the city was still figuring that out.

After sparking a furor for singling out the Jewish community for breaking coronavirus rules in an April tweet, de Blasio shied away from specifically mentioning the group on Wednesday.

As with the Sunset Park cases, the mayor made a point to say the Borough Park cases do not mark a “cluster.”

“There’s not the kind of ideal, consistent, national, international definitions here that we would like,” he said. “On a commonsense level, a cluster is when we have a bigger and more sustained problem.”

Out of 1,700 Sunset Park residents tested in recent days, 4.2% had positive results, according to Annabel Palma, chief equity officer of the Test and Trace Corps.

That’s well above the percentage for the city as a whole, which on Monday reached its lowest level to date — 0.24%. opting to change the date to a hearing. Donnelly did not give Kelly a new trial date.

Kelly, 53, is accused of running a racketeering scheme and heading an enterprise that trafficked women and underage girls who came to his shows.