Health officials are reporting a rise in coronavirus cases in the city.
“We are seeing an uptick. Rates of COVID have been slowly increasing since early to mid-July,” the city’s Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said, referring to the time period between July 3 and Aug. 3.
The Bronx neighborhoods of Co-op City and Edenwald in 10475 zip code in had the highest hospitalization rate at 25.7 per every 100,000 people.
“I had a headache, body pains, I couldn’t eat nothing,” Lisa Varona, a Co-op city resident, said as she sat in her car with her face mask was pulled down and strapped around her ears.
She said she was sick just a few weeks ago.
“I don’t want to go through that again,” said Varona.
In addition to the Co-op City and Edenwald area, the top five zip codes include: 11212, 11231, 11432 and 10002.
“We know it’s going to be more COVID this fall and winter, so likely what you will see from us is a recommendation to get your COVID booster,” said Vasan.
The FDA is expected to approve a new booster at some point in September.
“We need to be educated, tell others what’s going on so that we can know how best to protect ourselves,” Una Gayle, a Co-op City resident, said.
New Yorkers saying in addition to their vaccines, they’ll be taking more precautions.
“I feel that COVID is still around. People are still putting down their masks, but if you see, I keep mine up all the time. When I go to school, doctor’s office, I have my mask up,” Varona said.