NYC Agencies May Close Businesses That Violate COVID Guidelines

New York City agencies will have the power to issue closure orders to businesses who repeatedly failing to comply with COVID-19 health and safety requirements, under an order Thursday by Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi. as the city tries to contain an outbreak in four areas of Brooklyn and Queens.

The commissioner’s order allows officials from agencies including the Health Department, NYPD, Sheriff’s office, the FDNY, Department of Buildings, Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and Office of Special Enforcement enforce violations of state and local COVID guidelines and close businesses with repeat violations.

The Health Department also announced Thursday that COVID tests in the 11235 zip code, which includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach and Sheepshead Bay, have a 3.4-percent positivity rate, making this the eleventh zip code to pass the 3% benchmark. The others are 11691, 11223, 11230, 11219, 11204, 11229, 11210, 11374, 11415 and 11367.

These 11 zip codes represent 8.8% of the city’s overall population but account for over 29.9% of new COVID cases citywide during the past 2 weeks.

The 7-day average percent positivity for the 11 neighborhoods is 6.43%, while the citywide average is 1.52%. With the 11 neighborhoods removed, the 7-day average positivity for the city is 1.08%.

The city is also keeping an eye on zip codes with a positivity rate between 2% and 3%, including 11218, 11213, 11366 and 11432. One new zip code joined that list Thursday: 11234, covering Bergen Beach/Flatlands/Marine Park/Mill Basin. Another area of concern is Williamsburg/Bedford-Stuyvesant, as the cases in that cluster are growing at more than three times the citywide rate, though the percentage of positive tests in those areas have dipped just under 2 percent. (All percent-positive test numbers represent the percentage of total tests over the past 14 days, to control for large fluctuations in positivity rate that may occur on any individual day.)

The areas of concern comprise four separate COVID clusters: Southern Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Central Queens and Far Rockaway.

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rborchardt@hamodia.com