Members of Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community and other religious leaders broke out into protests Wednesday after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reinstated coronavirus restrictions to address a sharp increase in daily cases.
Videos showed crowds, largely unmasked, shouting in protest. In some cases, fires were started. In one incident, a Hasidic man was beaten for being “disloyal to the community,” according to the New York Times.
Boro Park uprising against @andrewcuomo @nycmayor has begun. People starting fires in the street. So not normal. pic.twitter.com/AB5BpfeyvF
— NYCPHOTOG (@nycphotog) October 7, 2020
On Tuesday, Cuomo announced capacity restrictions on houses of worship in New York City and banned large gatherings in areas with identified virus clusters. In some areas, attendance would be limited to 10 people at a time.
“This is about mass gatherings,” Cuomo said. “And one of the prime places of mass gatherings are houses of worship.”
Although its seven-day rolling positivity average remains at 1%, the city has recorded more than 1,000 cases per day eight of the past 10 days, according to New York’s coronavirus dashboard.
Comparatively, between June 6 and Sept. 25, not a single day recorded more than 1,000 cases. In 20 ZIP codes throughout the city identified by Cuomo, the positivity rate was 5.5%, according to the New York Times. The number of hospitalizations from COVID-19 jumped Wednesday from 705 to 748.
Some leaders in the Orthodox community condemned the governor’s statement.
“We are appalled by Governor Cuomo’s words and actions today,” four Orthodox Jewish lawmakers representing the areas affected by the shutdown said in a letter posted online late Tuesday. “What occurred today can only be described as a duplicitous bait-and-switch.”
Cuomo blamed the increased restrictions on local officials failing to enforce public health protocols such as wearing masks in public spaces.
“The rules weren’t being enforced because the community didn’t want to follow them,” he added. “I understand that, but that’s why we are where we are. Make no mistake.”
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn was also “taken by surprise” when Cuomo announced the restrictions.
“It is outrageous that after incurring great expense to implement all the safety protocols, our parishes are being forced to reduce capacity to a maximum of 10 people in the red zone and 25 people in the orange zone,” Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio said in a press release. “To think that some of our churches have the capacity to hold a thousand people for Mass, a capacity range of 10 to 25 people is disrespectful to Catholics and to the clergy who all have followed the rules.”
