UWS Coronavirus Rates Start Dipping, But Cases Still High: Data

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Weeks after the omicron variant began its alarming surge in New York City, data shows that COVID-19 rates are beginning to dip in the Upper West Side and around the five boroughs — though cases remain worryingly high.

During the seven-day period that ended on Thursday, more than 3,320 Upper West Siders tested positive for the coronavirus — a positivity rate of 18.8 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 positivity rate stood at 23.85 percent, data shows.

By ZIP code, the Upper West Side's positivity rate is lowest in Lincoln Square's 10023, where just over 18 percent of people had positive tests, according to the data. The highest rate in the neighborhood, in northern 10025, differed only slightly at 19.46 percent.

Local health experts have expressed cautious optimism that New York's omicron wave has reached or is nearing its peak — though that peak still represents "an extraordinary high level of spread," as Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said last week.

"We think with our modeling that the peak will happen next week," said Dr. Steven Corwin, CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, in a news conference with Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday. "We've also seen some leveling the past couple of days — fingers crossed that that does represent a plateau."

Through Dec. 26, 92 Upper West Side residents 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 reporter Nick Garber contributed to this report.