Bed-Stuy's COVID-19 Rates: Where Things Stand

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — The pandemic might not have people scrubbing down their groceries or clapping at 7 p.m. anymore, but hundreds in Bed-Stuy are still stricken by the disease every week.

During the week that ended Dec. 9, the most recent for which data is available, a combined 611 residents of ZIP codes that include parts of Bed-Stuy tested positive for COVID-19, according to the city, a sign that the coronavirus could be heading towards a winter surge.

City health officials have recommended New Yorkers to don masks when indoors. Officials also reminded city residents to get the new, bivalent booster, which promises to protect against more recent COVID mutations, like the virulent Omicron sub variant, in addition to their annual flu shot.

Some parts of the neighborhood are blasting past their high positivity rates from last summer, when Omicron spread like wildfire.

Overall, Bed-Stuy appears to edge on the high end of the citywide average.

The ZIP code with the highest positivity rate in Bed-Stuy, 11211, hit 18% on Dec. 9, well above their summer rates of slightly above 15% and well above the city average of 13%.

On Nov. 20, 11211 had a positivity rate of just 10%, showing a massive jump in less than two weeks.

11233, which includes Bed-Stuy, Ocean Hill and Brownsville, also saw a big jump over the last two weeks, from a 9% positivity rate on Nov. 20 to 15% by Dec. 20.

Two ZIP codes, 11205, which includes parts of Clinton Hill and 11206, which contains South Williamsburg, both reported positivity rates below the citywide average rate of 13% on Dec. 9, with both areas clocking in at just under 10%.