Survey: Nearly 900K New Yorkers lost at least three people to COVID

The latest New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey illustrates the massive toll that COVID-19 took on the city since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.

According to the data, about one in four New Yorkers, or nearly 2 million residents, lost at least one person — defined as a friend, family member, colleague or neighbor — to the illness, and more than one in 10 New Yorkers, almost 900,000 residents, lost three or more people.

Among about a million essential workers, the survey found that 29 percent lost one or more person to COVID-19.

The survey also shed light on the acute impacts of the pandemic on people of color. Between March and June of 2020, about 1.1 million New Yorkers continued going to work, and about 800,000 people in this group, or 72 percent, were people of color.

The parts of the city hit hardest by the virus were southeast Brooklyn, the Bronx, Upper Manhattan and southeast Queens, all of which have high numbers of essential workers.

The survey also emphasizes the global impact from the loss of life from COVID-19 in New York City. According to the data, the city is home to more people who were born outside the U.S. than the total population of Chicago.

"Our personal and professional networks span every corner of the world, connecting us to places with large outbreaks and high mortality rates," the survey said.

New York City was the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S. at the beginning of the pandemic, with the virus causing the city's retail stores, restaurants and entertainment venues to promptly shut down in March 2020.