The cases of coronavirus is exploding in the large religious Jewish neighborhoods of Borough Park, Kensington, Crown Heights and Williamsburg, several media outlets including KCP are reporting.
The Borough Park-based Yeshiva World News (YWN) published the headline: FRIGHTENING: Number of Boro Park Virus Cases EXPLODE Overnight; People Still Not taking This Seriously.
The story sites a senior Boro Park Hatzolah Paramedic who sent out a public message pleading with people to take action before it’s too late. “We encourage you to all listen to this message. He is predicting that Boro Park will become “Ground Zero” of the Pandemic in the entire United States. He says how the Mikvaos are full of elderly people this morning, people hugging and kissing at Chasunos etc,” according to YWN.
The online news site learned that more than 100 cases have been confirmed overnight in Boro Park, and there are close to 1,000 tests that are still awaiting results. Crown Heights has hundreds and possibly thousands of cases, with some people already placed on respirators, the site reported.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo also acknowledged a possible large outbreak of coronavirus in Borough Park in a press conference today and said health officials are looking into it.
In neighboring Kensington, Bklyner reported that as of yesterday the school [Yeshiva] at 550 Ocean Parkway continues to operate at full capacity, putting all of the children, adults, and community members nearby at risk. There are many high-risk individuals and elderly on the block who will suffer as a result,” a concerned neighbor emailed Bklyner.
According to KCP sources, the popular main synagogue of the Crown Heights Chabad Lubavitch movement at 770 Eastern Parkway was finally closed late yesterday. Prior to that, the rabbinic leaders in this community advised only seniors to not attend the synagogue.
There is a large cluster of coronavirus cases in Crown Heights, says sources in the community.
Noted Jewish Insider (JI) reporter Jacob Kornbluh Tweeted with shock of a how a wedding in Williamsburg drew hundreds of people despite dire government warnings to not have large gatherings because it can have the rippling effect of exposing thousands of people to the virus.
This is not cool. An outdoor wedding with that many participants in a cramped backyard a just as dangerous pic.twitter.com/LM351s1rxI
— Jacob N. Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) March 18, 2020
The Jewish Insider noted the situation became so dire that Avi Berkowitz, assistant to President Trump, implored Hasidic rabbis and leaders of the Orthodox community in a White House conference call yesterday to take the government’s strict measures to tackle the coronavirus seriously.
An administration official told Jewish Insider’s Jacob Kornbluh that the White House reached out to the most relevant leaders from the community to “get people to be cautious by walking them through the guidelines.” The White House relayed that the guidelines were issued by President Donald Trump “and they are not something to be taken lightly.” The 45-minute call “went pretty well,” the official said. “There was a widespread understanding how serious this issue is and we are hopeful that it will lead to serious results as quickly as possible,” according to the JI.
The JI also reported that former City Council Member and current Met Council on Jewish Poverty David Greenfield, has been sounding the alarm on coronavirus to the religious Jewish community for days.
“These are hard communities to break through to,” Greenfield told JI. “That is why I spent the last few days working directly with their respective leadership to close down the yeshivas. I am genuinely concerned because these are such tight-knit communities that eat, pray, shop, study and socialize together.”
The message has finally seemed to come through as Kornbluh, JI and YWN have all reported that a vast number of Rabbinic leaders from multiple Hassidic sects have now ordered all shuls [synagogues] yeshivas and other learning institutions closed.
