Jackson Heights Science Communication Initiative

07/13/2022

After a year and a half and 350 posts, we’re closing out this chapter of JHSci.

We started this space in late 2020 during the height of the 2nd wave of the pandemic, with the mission to bring interpretable and accessible science to our neighbors. We’ve loved sharing our expertise, answering your questions, and being the neighborhood go-tos for all things COVID, but now that vaccines are authorized for everyone except the teeny tiny babies, we’ve decided it’s time to say goodbye.

COVID is still very much here. In fact, we are in the middle of another surge—yes, another one. Stopping this group is in no way an indication that we feel the pandemic is over, or that we agree with reductions in testing (our beloved Corona clinic is now closed for testing) or the city’s various other signals that COVID is a thing of the past. But behind JHSci is a bunch of busy (volunteer) humans, and we need to take a break.

Don’t forget that you still have all the layers in your COVID prevention toolkit: vaccines, masks, doing things outside, getting tested, getting treatment, staying home when you are sick. COVID is around for awhile, but we can all keep doing our parts to keep each other safe.

Thank you for following and supporting us! See you around the neighborhood! 😎

.frye5

07/12/2022

Once again, COVID is tearing through our neighborhood. If you haven’t already, it’s time to step up your prevention methods. Specifically, we’re thinking back to one of our very first posts– layer your strategies–no one thing is a magic bullet against COVID, and it really takes several of them, together, to be maximally protected.

While we’ve been posting the test positivity rate in 11372 regularly, you can keep an eye on this number yourselves by going to the NYC Department of Health website (https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-main.page). Click the COVID tab, then latest data, then “by neighborhood” to see the map and to find our little rectangle of 11372/Jackson Heights in Queens. For now, these numbers are being updated daily but that could change as the city’s response to the pandemic shifts.

*Note: this week we had inadequate testing numbers to be very confident in the rate, but even so, it is high. This has been the case recently, presumably because more people are relying on rapid tests and test availability has been declining.

06/29/2022

While we typically do a “Voices of the Vaccinated” when a new group is eligible, we thought the real voices that needed to be heard this round were the voices of the parents whose small children are finally getting their vaccines (also the voices of the kids mostly said it hurt and they got treats and then rambled on about something incoherent…)

“It felt like a party at the vaccination center with so many parents and the providers celebrating the moment we waited so long for.” - M

“I felt like I’ve been waiting for this for so long, after so many disappointing setbacks. Finally I feel like my family is getting the protection it needs” - L

“I feel so relieved that my 3yo is on the way to being fully vaccinated. It has been so limiting to have a non-vaccinated family member and I'm looking forward to being able to do much more as a family.” - S

Feel free to share your pictures and reflections as you get your smallest family members vaccinated! 💕

06/21/2022

Still high, sigh.

Back to refreshing Vax4NYC :) We'll post a story when under 5 vaccine appointments become available.

06/14/2022

Another week holding steady at a pretty high rate. As we enter the summer hopefully we'll all spend lots of time outdoors and reduce our risk while getting some sun!

And of course right now we are waiting with bated breath for our small children to be vaccinated. We will post a story when we have more information about that.

Stay well, neighbors!

06/07/2022

The good news is that hospitalization and death rates are staying much lower with this wave of COVID infections than in previous ones. The bad news is that our test positivity rate is still quite high and there are many, many cases in our community. As long as we’re still in this current surge, please remember to wear your mask indoors and do all the other things to help keep each other safe. Thanks for keeping your neighbors safe and healthy.

06/02/2022

COVID seems to have a lot of tricks up its sleeve, the latest being that you can get it again. And again. Sigh. But it’s true. While infections with many of the earlier variants provided a fair bit of protection from getting infected with the next variant, this doesn’t seem to hold true for omicron. This means that many of us are getting COVID again, often just a few months after the last time. Our take home: don’t get carried away just because you had COVID once–wear masks, get your boosters, take things outdoors when you can, and if you are sick, don’t think there’s no way it could be COVID again, because it definitely could be.

05/31/2022

05/26/2022

We are sad to report that we continue to see no movement on the rate of people in our zip code that have received a booster dose. However, there is reason to hope that this might soon change.

Last week, boosters for 5-12 year olds were authorized by FDA and approved by CDC. If your kid is eligible, there are many convenient sites around our neighborhood to get their booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine. You can check out vax4NYC and enter our zip code for local options.

We are waiting with bated breath for news on vaccines for our youngest children and can’t wait to report to you when they become authorized.

05/24/2022

We continue to see a rise in the test positivity rate in our neighborhood which should caution us all to increase our protective efforts.

The city’s data on COVID testing doesn’t include home tests, meaning that the absolute case numbers are low compared to the real COVID situation out there in NYC right now. While the current citywide case count (~4000/day) seems low when we think about the omicron wave earlier in the year, importantly the city is in the ‘high’ alert level–meaning that there is widespread COVID transmission and hospitalizations are increasing. The hospitalization increase, irrespective of the actual case numbers, is informative. We always want to provide data with context, and as the pandemic evolves, different data sources will be more or less appropriate.

Last week, the city issued an advisory encouraging everyone to wear masks in shared indoor spaces, and while that isn’t as good as a mask mandate, we can each do our part by donning those masks and protecting our neighbors.

These COVID waves keep coming and we’re all worn out, but we do have tools we can use to keep ourselves, our neighbors, and our loved ones healthier.

05/20/2022

One million people in the US have died of COVID-19. This is a breathtaking, heartbreaking number and we want to take a moment to honor and remember those we have lost to this pandemic.

Here in our community, 11372, we’ve lost 426 neighbors to COVID. That means that 1 out of every 143 people in our neighborhood have died.
Each loss impacts countless other lives. Let’s all hold some space for all those affected in our hearts today.

Sending love from JHsci.

05/17/2022

If you take a look at the most recent map on the Health Department’s website, it looks like 11372 is doing pretty well because our percent positivity is a lot lower than the rest of the city. But 9.22% is not low, and the rate keeps going up, up, and up. It seems like we are back at that place where all of us know at least one person (often many more) who have COVID again. Time to keep doubling down on all those precautions, JH!

And a reminder- please don’t bank on the natural immunity you may have gotten from an infection several months ago. We’re hearing more and more cases of reinfection.

05/11/2022

05/10/2022

The city remains in ‘medium’ alert level, and the test positivity rate is still going up here in 11372. We say it every week, but it’s a great time to get a booster (or a second one) if you are eligible–getting boosted will give you additional protection during this COVID wave.

05/03/2022

New York City is officially at “medium” alert level which indicates a medium level of community spread. This medium level doesn’t trigger any citywide policies but rather just comes with a reminder about personal behaviors- the same things we know: get vaxxed and boosted, wear a good mask, get tested, stay home if sick, and wash your hands. So more of the same things we know work.

We’re all pretty fatigued from all of this by now but as we’ve always said, we need to follow the data and the recent data is telling us it’s time to ramp up our prevention efforts.

Stay safe out there!

04/26/2022

COVID is really back for another round in JH, with a test positivity rate twice that of last week. We hope that those who traveled for the April school break had a wonderful time and came back healthy.

There is one caveat to the test positivity rate this week (hence the asterisk). The city has set a threshold for when enough people are tested to be confident in this number and this week we didn’t hit it. So this estimate might not be as stable as it is when we have a lot more tests coming in. People in JH simply did not get tested as much this week. Maybe this is because people went out of town for the school break, or maybe this reflects the reduction in the number of test sites, or maybe this is related to an increase in people using home rapid antigen tests instead of PCRs. Regardless, the numbers this week mean should serve as a strong reminder to get tested as part of your COVID prevention strategy.

04/19/2022

It’s nice the test positivity rate in 11372 has stayed about the same this week as last but cases are still increasing citywide, particularly in Manhattan and Staten Island. With  the ending of mask mandates on airplanes and many other modes of transit (but NOT MTA yet!), and so many people traveling this week, now is not the time to relax on COVID precautions.  Stay safe, JH!

04/19/2022

For those of us with kids in public school it’s time for Spring Break! After two years of lots of canceled plans, many people are headed out of town this year. We’re excited for the return of travel, and want to remind you to stay COVID safe, because COVID is still very much here (and here in NYC, is going up again). 

​​The questions we urge you to ask as you get ready to head out of town (or have a fun staycation) are largely the same as last year:  Is everyone in your household vaccinated? Do you interact with people at high risk? What can you do to make your plans safer?  

No matter how you choose to spend your Spring Break, there are ways to reduce your risk. Think fewer contacts, less time, less shared air, more hand washing, stay in if you’re sick, better masking, and if you are due for a booster vaccination, go ahead and get it as soon as you can.

For those who will be sending kids back to school after vacation, make sure to use those rapid tests that DOE sent home this week. You should plan to test once on Saturday and again at around the same time on Sunday. If you get a positive test result, or if your kid is sick, don’t send them to school on Monday.

Have a great week! We all deserve oodles of rest and relaxation.