A federal judge in Brooklyn on Friday denied the Diocese of Brooklyn's attempt to block Gov. Andrew Cuomo's executive order restricting religious gatherings in the borough's red zone.Rockland County, which is part of the "upstate cluster" of synagogues that have been rated as mini-hot spots for a new wave of COVID "cases", is cracking down:Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio said in a statement, "The Brooklyn Diocese is extremely disappointed by the ruling, as we believe we presented a strong case in support of our right to worship. It is a shame our parishioners in the red zones cannot return to Mass when the judge acknowledged we have done everything right.”
He continued, "It is unfortunate the court has ruled against us, and we will abide by these restrictions, the churches in the red zones are closed until further noticed. The Mass attendance limits of 10 people are extremely difficult to implement because we never want to turn away worshippers. It is unfortunate that our inalienable constitutional right to worship is still impeded despite the efforts we have made."
Ramapo town employees are joining forces with the state to crack down on non-compliance of COVID-19 safety guidelines in Rockland County, especially in the designated red zone areas.The corporate news reports are circumspect about this, but the COVID problem in Rockland and Orange Counties is clearly felt to be a Jewish problem. (The whole issue of the "second wave" of COVID is one of increased "cases", which are vaguely defined and seem to represent an aggregate of false positives, positive tests for antibodies, and infections, but the infections result in minimal hospitalizations or deaths.)Beginning today, members of the new task force will begin patrolling Rockland’s red zone areas. Six employees have gone through training to become part of a COVID-19 enforcement task force and have the ability to hand out fines of up to $15,000.
. . . Due to a spike in COVID-19 cases, Gov. Andrw Cuomo launched enforcement zones, or red zones that included portions of Ramapo. The Village of Spring Valley, located within Ramapo, saw one of the biggest spikes in the state.
. . . News 12 cameras also captured multiple schools in red zone areas open last week, and have received pictures from viewers showing children on buses in Spring Valley.
The Jews in the Brooklyn-Queens cluster are on top of this:
Members of the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn are outraged at the sudden arrival of media “paparazzi” whom they accuse of trying to blame the community for a rise in coronavirus cases.The problem in Ramapo County appears to be the one in many other jurisdictions, that law enforcement authorities do not enforce health department orders, which are not laws, and which in fact are normally enforced by health inspectors. Apparently there aren't enough health inspectors to undertake enforcement of new restrictions on synagogues and shuls.State and local authorities have clamped down on synagogues and other Jewish institutions, forcing many to close, because of a recent local uptick in cases around the time of the Jewish High Holidays. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) singled out the Orthodox Jewish community at a press conference earlier this month.
However, local Jewish community activists believe that they are being discriminated against, arguing that other communities have higher infection rates, and pointing out that elected officials have been supportive of ongoing Black Lives Matter protests.
A special enforcement detail for rounding up the Jews is not a good look. If Gov Cuomo hasn't figured this one out, it looks like some of the media-savvy Jews already have.
