The Young Israel synagogue in New Rochelle, New York, is now literally and figuratively the center of coronavirus containment efforts.
More than 100 coronavirus cases have been reported in Westchester County, with Young Israel apparently being a hub of the spread. The first reported case in New Rochelle was a man who subsequently appears to have infected his family and a neighbor. Locals who attended a funeral at Young Israel were instructed to isolate, and more positive tests rapidly came in.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo responded by setting up a “containment area,” announced on Tuesday, in a one-mile-radius circle around the synagogue. (That’s the equivalent of 3.14 square miles: one square mile times pi.) Schools inside that zone will close beginning Wednesday, including New Rochelle High School, which is basically at the southernmost reach of the circle. Cuomo said all large gatherings inside that zone must be called off.
Here’s what that circle looks like.
Presumably, that means no wedding receptions at Wykagyl Country Club and no more bat mitzvahs or Young Israel for the time being. Also, the circle appears to reach into neighboring Eastchester.
New Rochelle is a small city in Westchester County, with a population of about 80,000. It borders the Bronx to the South, but the containment zone is further north in New Rochelle.
