Coronavirus Statistics: Tracking The Epidemic In New York

• COVID cases are on the rise again in New York City. Hospitalizations and deaths continue to decline.
• Black New Yorkers, long the group with the lowest vaccination rate, are now about as protected against severe disease as their white neighbors. Nearly 60% are fully vaccinated.
• Cases have also risen slightly in New York City schools.

The charts, tables and maps on this page refresh with the latest data every day, but we update the article’s text about once a week. The last text update happened on March 24th.

Want different metrics on this page? Please send any questions or comments to SciHealthData@wnyc.org.

Recent Trends

These charts portray New York City’s primary COVID statistics over the last 90 days. Confirmed infections spiked in December and peaked in January, spurred by the highly contagious omicron variant. The city reported 60,697 new cases on January 3rd, the highest single-day count since the pandemic began. (Some of these cases were likely recorded over New Year’s and reported on delay.) Cases, hospitalizations and deaths have all sharply declined, although case counts have ticked up slightly in recent days

This map shows where coronavirus has recently flourished, as judged by the positivity rate. The positivity rate measures how many tests come back showing an infection. High positivity can give a sense of where the virus is spreading fastest, but it isn’t the same as the infection/transmission rate. A high positivity rate—above 5%—can also signal places that have only enough tests to keep pace with severe cases but not mild cases.

This map shows COVID-19 hospitalizations over the last 28 days. Hospitalization rates are higher in parts of the city where fewer people are vaccinated.

Most of New York City’s data is released on a three-day lag. Data for the most recent days is typically provisional. The department revises the data for older dates as new tallies arrive, so numbers for each date may change slightly over time.

Vaccinations

Herd immunity occurs when an infectious disease can no longer spread because community protection is high. This target is unknown for COVID-19, but some experts say it could be achieved when 70-85% of a neighborhood, city, state or nation is immune to infection. New York City provides vaccine statistics on the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website.

New York City’s vaccine campaign started with early hiccups, caused mostly by inclement weather and limited supplies of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. Progress was also hampered by the digital divide and unequal access to the online appointment system for older New Yorkers, whom officials prioritized for the shots. The rollout concentrated in wealthier, less diverse ZIP codes during its early days. Vaccination rates still vary widely among neighborhoods—from 53% in Borough Park to 100% in midtown.

COVID booster shots are currently available to all fully vaccinated adults in New York City, provided that it’s been two months since their one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or six months since their second Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shot. This winter, the FDA also expanded its emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to include 5- through 17-year-olds. As of March 24th, the city has administered more than 3.1 million additional doses of COVID vaccine.

While city, state and federal officials have provided millions of people with the COVID-19 vaccines, large gaps remain for some key demographics.

On average, about 87% of New Yorkers over the age of 55 are fully vaccinated. But the oldest New Yorkers are still behind: just 63% of those over age 85 are fully inoculated. Black and white New Yorkers also remain undervaccinated.

According to the latest city data, 66% of children ages 5-17 have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Kids younger than 5 years old are currently ineligible; the Food and Drug Administration likely won’t authorize the vaccine for this age group until more clinical trial results are available this spring.

New York City experienced a high amount of natural exposure during its first and second waves of the coronavirus. This natural immunity combined with defenses provided by the vaccine rollout to drive down cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Natural and vaccine-based immunity is expected to last for months, if not years.

New variants are more likely to evade the natural immunity seen among past recoveries, while vaccine-based shields are more likely to stay intact. Data released by the city health department shows that fully vaccinated New Yorkers make up about a quarter of COVID hospitalizations and deaths recorded since January 2021. But overall, fully vaccinated New Yorkers have drastically lower case, hospitalization and death rates than unvaccinated residents.

Variants

Viruses mutate, much like any microorganism or creature with a genome. Coronavirus variants will pose a perpetual threat to unvaccinated people until infection rates are driven to zero.

The delta variant dominated in recent months but has been outpaced by the B.1.1.529 variant, called “omicron” by the World Health Organization. Scientists are also tracking another omicron substrain, BA.2, which is considered more contagious than the original omicron. According to the city health department, the substrain accounts for about 30% of cases sequenced, as of mid-March.

Research suggests that the COVID-19 vaccines may not be as effective against infections caused by the delta and omicron variants, but the drugs can still protect against severe disease, especially after boosters. Hospitalizations and deaths are low for people who take a full course of vaccines.

NYC Pandemic Over Time

These charts show how cases and hospitalizations evolved throughout every borough and citywide.

COVID-19 Pandemic In New York, New Jersey And Connecticut

Parts of New York outside of the five boroughs were hit harder by the state’s second wave relative to its first, a pattern that applied to New Jersey and Connecticut, too. Cases and deaths in all three states decreased dramatically as vaccines became widely available, although the former spiked again over the summer.

In late February, the CDC updated its COVID-19 guidance to recommend universal masking only when hospitalizations and cases are very high and hospital capacity is limited. Much of the tri-state area is currently rated “low” under the new rubric. At this level, the CDC says vaccination and testing are all that’s needed to manage the virus. Under the old guidelines, masking would still be recommended in Brooklyn, Westchester, southern Connecticut and much of New Jersey.

COVID-19 In NYC And NJ Schools

The New York City Department of Education was already reporting dozens of cases among staff and a handful among students prior to September 13th, the first day for public school in the city.

Average daily new cases have come back down from their early January peak but are increasing slightly. The education department says the surge of cases after winter break was due in part to its decision to include at-home positive test results in its case count.

By March 24th, more than 179,000 students and staff had received a positive test.

Parents and health experts have voiced concerns about the city’s testing strategy, which allows unvaccinated children to opt out of routine tests and attend school in person. Just one-third of students have returned testing consent forms, according to data shared by the education department.

Data for New Jersey schools is more limited: The state only reports a comprehensive count of positive COVID test results linked to in-school transmission, aggregated by county. The New Jersey Department of Health has recorded close to 3,600 school-linked cases across 524 outbreaks since classes began on September 7th.