On Oct. 8, mere hours before the happiest day on the Jewish calendar, during which adherents gather en masse to dance with the Torah, new COVID-19 regulations that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had announced two days prior went into effect, more than dampening the holiday mood.
The regulations were for “cluster” areas — hot spots with spikes in new COVID-19 cases — in Brooklyn, Queens, Broome, Orange and Rockland Counties. Many of the neighborhoods singled out included Hasidic communities, and Cuomo told CNN: “The cluster is predominantly an ultra-Orthodox cluster.”
Read Full Article »