COVID 19's Toll In Greenwich Village: More Than 60 Deaths

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — Compared to much of New York City, Greenwich Village and the West Village have been somewhat spared by the coronavirus. But that is of little comfort to the dozens of neighborhood residents who lost their lives to COVID-19.

The end of 2020 provides a chance to reflect on the scope of the virus's toll in New York City, and in Greenwich Village and the West Village. The coronavirus likely arrived in New York in early February, meaning it has been with us for all but one month of this year.

All told, 61 residents of the two neighborhoods have died from COVID-19, according to the most recent data released by the city. Just under 2,600 positive cases have been confirmed across the neighborhood's three ZIP codes.

Those numbers, unthinkable at the start of the year, are much lower than in many other parts of the city. In Upper Manhattan, Washington Heights has had a death rate more than double the figures seen in Greenwich Village and the West Village, while hard-hit Corona, Queens, has reported 443 deaths in just one ZIP code.

At the beginning of the summer, the West Village and Greenwich Village neighborhoods became meeting points in Manhattan for protests inspired by the death of George Floyd against police brutality.

After some speculation that the case counts would rise in the neighborhoods due to the size of protests, the numbers never ticked up.

The rate of new infections slowed over the summer, and even during a citywide resurgence in recent months, Greenwich Village and West Village's case rates have continued to rank among the city's lowest.