Coronavirus: NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio seeks to lock down COVID-19 hot spots

NEW YORK — Nine New York City ZIP codes could see stricter novel coronavirus restrictions as early as Wednesday as Mayor Bill de Blasio seeks to quell new COVID-19 hot spots throughout Brooklyn and Queens.

De Blasio announced Sunday his intentions to close all nonessential businesses, schools and childcare centers, but New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo must first approve the plan, NPR reported.

In a series of tweets late Sunday, de Blasio referenced “extraordinary problems” in roughly 20 hot spots prompting his proposal, calling the recent spikes in COVID-19 infections “something we haven’t seen since the spring.”

By early Monday morning, New York had confirmed a total of 464,582 cases, which have resulted in 33,205 fatalities to date, according to a CNN tally.

Of those deaths, more than 20,000, or about 60%, occurred during the spring, The New York Times reported.

If approved, the measures advocate for the closure of all schools – public and private – in the nine affected ZIP codes, plus the closure of all nonessential businesses and the prohibition of both indoor and outdoor dining in restaurants. Another 11 zip codes could also see indoor dining banned, but schools would remain open, the Times reported.

According to the Times, the areas in question all have recorded positivity rates of more than 3% -- and some as high as 8% -- for more than seven consecutive days, compared with the city’s overall rate of about 1.5%.

If after two weeks the positivity rates in the targeted areas drop back below a rolling seven-day 3% positivity rate, the restrictions could be lifted, de Blasio said.

The targeted ZIP codes correspond with areas with a high Hasidic Jewish population and encompass areas in central Queens, southern Brooklyn and Far Rockaway, NPR reported.

“This will not be easy at all,” de Blasio said. “But it’s something that we believe is necessary to keep this city from going backwards, towards where we were months ago.”

Cox Media Group