Harlem NYCHA Residents Died From COVID At Higher Rates: New Data

HARLEM, NY — Residents of Harlem's public housing developments caught COVID-19 and died at higher rates than their neighbors, according to newly released data from the city.

The data, which shows the impact of the virus in the hundreds of buildings run by the New York City Housing Authority, was released by the city's Health Department this week. It was shared after POLITICO reported that the city had not provided any data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in NYCHA since May 2020.

The numbers confirm what many had already feared: residents of the systemically neglected public housing system have contracted and died from the virus at higher rates than other New Yorkers.

In Harlem, at least 301 NYCHA residents had died from the coronavirus and nearly 6,700 had gotten infected between March 2020 and June 2021, when the most recent data is available.

Those death and infection rates are nearly double the rates in Harlem as a whole. (The true NYCHA totals are likely even higher, since the city's population numbers appear to be lower than the system's true total, POLITICO reported.)

Some Harlem housing complexes were especially hard-hit. At East Harlem's Jackie Robinson Houses, on East 128th Street near Park Avenue, 112 people were infected — more than a quarter of the 416 residents. Of those, six died. (By contrast, the overall infection rate in the Robinson Houses' ZIP code, 10035, was just 9 percent at the end of June.)

Further north, the Harlem River II complex on West 152nd Street had a 16 percent infection rate, with 46 cases among its 281 residents.

By raw numbers, the Grant Houses in West Harlem was hardest-hit, with 662 residents being infected and 33 people losing their lives to COVID-19. The Wagner Houses in East Harlem also lost at least 33 residents.

Across the five boroughs, NYCHA residents represent about 5 percent of the city's total COVID-19 cases and 7 percent of the city's total deaths, despite the fact that tenants make up only 4 percent of the city's population, as POLITICO first reported.

Scroll through the spreadsheet below to see the total numbers for each Harlem complex included in the data:

Patch reporter Anna Quinn contributed.

Contact reporter NIck Garber at [email protected].

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