18 Responses

1. “NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.”

   The view expressed here, should be the one held by every sane and rational personal.

2. Ever heard of the expression “get over it”

3. Why should they get tested if they know they have it? They can quarantine on their own. They don’t need to give Deblasio material for his next twitter message.

4. @letterwriter. Do you quarantine when you have the flu. Staying home from school I heard of. Quarantining I didn’t. So, you will yell back and say, how can you compare a deadly pandemic to the common flu. The answer: Are you on the radical leftist side where eventhough we have a simple cost effective cure called hydrochloricine and zinc, proven to work, we will still make the hype about endangering lives and wearing masks and staying bunkered down until the Dem’s destroy America blame it on Trump and steal the election!?!?!? If yes, than you are the one who needs to read your own comment to yourself. Plenty of respected doctors are walking around and attending shul without a mask because they understand this. Follow suit and stop the hype. Ty.

5. When our national leaders show total disregard for common sense public health and safety measures (masks, distancing, testing etc) and are constantly trying to swat away concerns by saying its “no big deal”, “it will suddenly disappear’, is “no worse than the flu” etc. WHY would you expect a bunch of yidden enjoying their summer in the mountains to disrupt their routine???? How selfish can you be?

6. seems like people here in chareidi BP and WMSBK, KJ ,MONSEY believe everyone has to get it like the flu so quarantine is not the answer and older people or people with underlying health issues should stay home.
   lets be mispalel that this megyfeh will not return and SHOYMER PESOYIM HASHEM

7. EmEmC

   It’s a general disclamer

8. I am NOT condoning such behaviors.

   I am commenting on the characterization of the behavior as selfish.

   We are a selfless community, doing chessed and caring for others! Selfishness is rare to find among us. It is improper for the writer to make such an accusation before Rosh Hashana,especially when the cause from such behavior is due to anything but selfishness.

   We have been mislead by medical experts. We were told not to wear masks. We were and are still being told that hydroxychloroquine is useless and dangerous. We were told so many “facts” by leading “experts”, that we have justifiably lost our trust in their recommendations and directives.

   The experts impose on us a two week quarantine. There is NO DATA supporting a quarantine for TWO weeks! Why not 10 days, one week or maybe three weeks?!

   The quarantine keeps us locked INDOORS. That means you can’t take a jog in an open meadow in the country with no one near you for miles. Does that make any sense?! It means you can’t be driving in your car, alone, even with all windows rolled up! Why? Because the “experts” decided it so!

   The quarantine remains even if you are tested during quarantine and are negative for the virus! Even if tested multiple times, you still must remain in quarantine! WHY?!

   Like, one positive test for virus gets you into quarantine, but even a dozen negative tests showing that you have no virus, does not remove the quarantine! (Paraphrasing, ha’peh sh’osor – ha’peh sh’hitir).

   The CDC recently said that the they are removing the 2 week quarantine recommendation, but leave it to local heath officials. Well, who do we trust more, the CDC or locals? (Nott hat the CDC has that much more ne’emonos).

   When things don’t make sense, we become cynical, and rightfully so. We lose all trust in the directives from “experts”.

   So writer, it isn’t selfishness but total mistrust.

   Please correct your accusation against klal yisroel!!

9. I agree with EmEmc How selfish can people be. Probably they chassidim

10. People who don’t want to be tested should assume they have it and distace themselves from others.

11. Have we gone from Anti-Vaxxers to Anti-Maskers?

12. a few points
    1. how is your wife feeling?
    2. did she need hospital?
    not to be nosy , but these are relevant to your post
    klal yisroel is NOT crazy, but when a doctor tells a yid u need surgery , he starts calling relatives , machers & more docs for opinions…thats just how we are

13. Yankele1 “Probably they chassidim”, what a foolish assumption, from a total fool. You are offensive. And you offended millions of yidden that are chassidim. suspect that your yichus is non-Jewish.

14. I 100% support the letter writer and EmEmC. Anyone who disagrees is not just selfish – s/he is a Rozeach. So I heard myself from R’ Moshe Shternbuch Shlita, and b’Shem every other Poseik I know of.

15. Where do these people live? Most people from Brooklyn (especially those with younger children) already had the virus before they went to the mountains.

    Also, why should they get tested? The tests are not even accurate.

    I think this letter is fishy.

16. Although I’m skeptical about any of these so-called letters that publicly criticizes Am Yisroel, I’ll take it at face value.
    Shloimy, how did your wife get it? Who was she in contact with that gave it to her? It doesn’t come from nowhere. Fellow bungalow colony person? Walmart? Gombos bakery? As soon as she found out she had it, did she immediately go into quarantine herself? Or did she chop one more swim by the pool? Did YOU rest positive for Covid 19?Did she stay in the bungalow colony or did she return to the City? When did this alleged story take place? Recently? Most responsible people are back from the Country already. So when did you go door to door informing everyone in the bungalow colony that your wife had the Coronavirus? So many questions. If the alleged author of this piece doesn’t respond to these basic questions, I’ll assume this letter is a fraud just like the rest of these “concerned” Yidden who mamesh love their neighbors.

17. While I admire the authors care for the well being of others I must bring attention to some medical fallacies:
    1- on the New York test and trace website, only a considerable contact required isolation. The scenarios listed are :
    as:

    Living with someone who tested positive for COVID-19
    Providing care in the home of someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
    Spending 10 minutes or more within six feet of someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
    While a bungalow colony is close, it is quite probable that nobody was exposed to that degree and as such will not require isolation.
    2- it is a myth that a negitive result on a nasal swab rules out covid infection. For symptomatic patients, a swab has a sensitivity of detecting disease of around 75 percent (Correlation of Chest CT and RT-PCR Testing for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China: A Report of 1014 Cases
    TaoAi,MD,PhD* • ZhenluYang,MD,PhD* • HongyanHou,MD • ChenaoZhan,MD • ChongChen,MD • WenzhiLv,BS • QianTao,PhD • ZiyongSun,MD • LimingXia,MD,PhD) which is presumed to be considerably less for pre symptomatic patients. A single negative RT-PCR doesn’t exclude COVID-19 (especially if obtained from a nasopharyngeal source or if taken relatively early in the disease course) (emcrit.org). As such for those with an exposure significant enough to to warrant isolation, a single negitive test would not change the need for isolation.

18. I am shocked at the responses of the majority of the commentators here. Are you all so removed from reality? Maybe you haven’t lost family, friends or neighbors to this rampant virus. Or maybe you have, but you just don’t care. What’s clearly more important than getting tested and/or quarantining is going about your daily routines & sending your kids back to school, regardless of whether or not you will pass it on.

    Many people are asymptomatic, that’s why testing if you’ve been exposed is crucial. If you test negative – as I have- great. I still quarantined for 14 days because I had flown internationally. It was boring but OK, and I did it twice.

    For what it’s worth Mr. Friedman, I agree with your letter. There’s no way this mageifah is going away any time soon because selfish, thoughtless and inconsiderate people who want to live in a “me only” world don’t get it. But there’ll come a time when they will be faced with the harsh reality in their own dalet amos and then they’ll change their tune. Refuah shleima to your wife.