East New York, Far Rockaway and Flushing are among the neighborhoods hit hardest by the coronavirus in New York, according to a new trove of data released Monday by the city Department of Health.
ZIP codes within those areas topped the city in deaths per 100,000 residents, the data shows.
The 11239 ZIP code, which encompasses the sprawling Starrett City housing development in Brooklyn’s East New York, has seen an alarming 612 deaths per 100,000 residents, extrapolated from 76 total fatalities, according to the DOH map.
The eastern tip of the Rockaways, 11691, has logged 288 fatalities in total, translating to a death rate of 444 per 100,000 residents.
City Councilman Donovan Richards, who reps the Queens peninsula, said that he was moved to tears by the deaths in his community.
“I just got the numbers and was crying a little bit because these were people I knew,” said Richards, a Democrat. “These were lives. These were people who mattered.
“Just because they lived in poverty, just because of their socioeconomic status and the color of their skin, they didn’t deserve this,” added Richards, referring to the particular impact COVID-19 has had on the poor and racial minorities.
Elsewhere in Queens, 11354, encompassing Flushing, has been hit with 241 deaths, a rate of 434 per 100,000 residents.
Also exceeding 400 deaths per 100,000 residents were 10469 (Williamsbridge and Pelham Gardens in The Bronx), 11224 (Seagate and the western half of Coney Island) and 11369 (Queens’ East Elmhurst).
East Elmhurst leads the city, meanwhile, in total cases per 100,000 residents with 4,125, extrapolated from 1,504 overall diagnoses, the data shows.
“Neighbors, friends, constituents have died in astronomical numbers,” said City Councilman Francisco Moya, a Democrat representing Elmhurst.
Like Richards, Moya bemoaned the pronounced impact the contagion has had on black and brown New Yorkers — and questioned why more hadn’t been done to raise awareness in those communities during the early days of the pandemic.
“It’s very frustrating that the city just didn’t reach out early enough to this community when I was calling for it from day one,” said Moya. “The death toll here, it’s a wake-up call. Our people of color are not getting the same service as other communities.”
The findings reinforce previously observed tendencies of the coronavirus to prey on minorities and the poor at disproportionate rates.
Advanced age and underlying health conditions, however, remained the factors most closely tied to risk for death.
Of the 15,983 New Yorkers confirmed to have died of the coronavirus, 11,766 — or over 73 percent — were 65 or older.
And just under 79 percent of the deceased have been confirmed to have an underlying health issue, such as lung disease, heart disease, obesity, diabetes or cancer.