Jewish funeral service in Brooklyn thwarts social distancing measures
Dozens of Orthodox Jews in Borough Park threw social distancing measures to the wind Wednesday morning by holding a large, outdoor funeral procession to mourn the death of a 101-year old rabbi.
The procession — which involved a huge crowd of Jewish community members standing extremely close together despite the fact that COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus, is prevalent in Borough Park — was held at Avenue N and E. 9th St.
Not only were the participants ignoring social distancing and self-isolation mandates, but multiple people were holding the rabbi’s coffin during the service, which means that germs could have also been passed through touch.
Videos of the incident spread online, causing a lot of outrage on social media.
“Why would you encourage gathering and risk the spread of COVID to health care workers,” one Twitter user wrote about it.
To the mourners’ credit, many did appear to be wearing face masks and some may have been wearing gloves as well.
The funeral procession was held without getting a permit from the New York Police Department, and when the NYPD arrived on the scene after finding out about the situation through a 311 call, the procession was over and much of the crowd had already dispersed.
“No notifications were made to the 66th Precinct,” a police spokeswoman said. “We became aware of it via a 311 call and responded. By that time, it was over and the remainder of the crowd was dispersed.”
Read more about this in this article: The New York Daily News
Twenty-year Brooklyn elementary school teacher dies of coronavirus
A beloved third-grade teacher died on Tuesday evening of coronavirus-related complications after working for the Department of Education for over 20 years.
Sandra Santos-Vizcaino, 54, most recently was working at P.S. 9 in Prospect Heights and was known as “an amazing hugger” by her peers. She was described as a caring and thoughtful teacher who always looked out for her students.
“Yesterday was a challenging day for the community as we faced the devastating reality of losing a teacher and a challenging night, as we faced the sounds of our thoughts and fears,” Principal Fatimah Ali wrote in a letter to the community.
Santos-Vizcaino had opened up a GoFundMe page to raise money to buy her students new books to read — she chose books based on what they found interesting — and other school supplies.
She was also known to keep up with her former students, even students she had at the previous school she worked at, P.S. 84. In fact, she had visited one of her former students who has cancer about a month ago.
“This is a tremendous loss,” Jessamyn Lee, a friend and peer of Santos-Vizcaino’s said.
Santos-Vizcaino was last in the school building on March 19, was hospitalized on March 26 and then died five days later. The school informed the community of a self-reported case on March 29.
Read more about this in this article: Bklyner
