UES Stays Healthy With High Vaccine Rates, Low COVID Counts

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Upper East Side continues to rank among the city's most-vaccinated neighborhoods while posting some of the lowest coronavirus rates, city data shows, reflecting the demographic trends of New York's pandemic recovery.

Using city data showing the percentage of people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, all five Upper East Side ZIP codes rank in the city's top 10 percent.

The 10075 ZIP code is second-highest in the entire city, with 60 percent of people fully vaccinated — trailing only Breezy Point in Queens. The 10065 ZIP code is not far behind, at 55 percent — the fourth-highest in the city.

Meanwhile, looking at COVID-19 positivity rates, all five Upper East Side ZIP codes ranked in the city's lowest 10 percent for the week ending April 22, data shows. The 10021 and 10075 ZIP codes both ranked among the five lowest in New York, at just 0.65 and 0.68 percent positivity, respectively.

After holding stubbornly steady for much of February and March, virus rates have finally plunged in recent weeks on the Upper East Side and across the city. By mid-April, the seven-day positivity rates in several Upper East Side ZIP codes were the lowest they had been since last fall, before the holiday surge.

The rosy picture on the Upper East Side stands in contrast with some other parts of the city — namely, less-white and less-affluent neighborhoods, which have lagged in the vaccine rollout.

In neighboring East Harlem — a largely Latino neighborhood whose median household income is about one-quarter of the Upper East Side's — only about a third of residents are fully vaccinated, putting it in the middle of the pack citywide. (East Harlem has been among the hardest-hit parts of the city by COVID-19.)

Following complaints by neighborhood leaders, the city worked to ramp up vaccinations in East Harlem through outreach campaigns and a pop-up site at the Taino Towers apartment complex.

An analysis by Gothamist this week found that wealthier and whiter neighborhoods are faring better in the vaccine campaign, as the city is confronted with a sudden drop in vaccine demand now that shots have opened up to all New Yorkers.

Across the Upper East Side, more than 93,000 residents are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, while more than 122,000 have gotten at least one dose.

Meanwhile, at least 313 Upper East Side residents have died from COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to city data.