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Religious Gathering Limit Upheld As NY Hospitalizations Rise

Patients wait on line outside a COVID-19 testing site that provides priority testing for NYC Department of Education staff through NYC Health + Hospitals on Ft. Hamilton Parkway, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, in the Borough Park neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

The number of New Yorkers hospitalized with the coronavirus continues to rise, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday, as authorities heightened their focus on banning mass gatherings in COVID-19 hot spots.

Cuomo announced that 826 people were hospitalized with the virus — the highest number since July 15. State officials said eight New Yorkers died of the coronavirus on Friday.

Still, the governor insisted the “numbers remain good news,” noting that public health officials traced 18% of positive tests this week to a so-called “Red Zone” that’s home to 2.8% of the state population.

Six coronavirus clusters have cropped up in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as Broome, Orange and Rockland counties. The state has closed schools and nonessential businesses in those areas and limited gatherings.

“It’s going to take the work of all of us now to make sure we don’t go backwards on our hard-fought progress,” Cuomo said in a statement. “We must all continue to wear our masks, wash our hands, remain socially distant, and above all, stay New York Tough.”

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn said Saturday that church officials “are left with no choice” but to abide by new restrictions that temporarily limit the size of religious gatherings in the COVID-19 hot spots. The restrictions limit attendance at all houses of worship to 25% capacity, or a maximum of 10 people.

The diocese had sued the state in federal court this week, saying Cuomo’s plan would effectively force over two dozen of its churches to close their doors even though they “have been reopened for months in strict adherence to all medical and governmental guidance without any COVID-related incidents whatsoever.”

U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee called the case a “difficult decision” but sided with Cuomo in denying the church’s request for a temporary restraining order. The government, he ruled late Friday, “is afforded wide latitude in managing the spread of deadly diseases under the Supreme Court’s precedent.”

“There is no reason for this latest interference with our First Amendment right to celebrate Mass together,” DiMarzio said in a statement responding to the ruling. “So we will continue to press the courts and our elected officials to end it as soon as possible.”

The ruling followed a similar decision Friday by another judge in the Eastern District of New York who refused to block Cuomo’s plan. That ruling followed an emergency hearing in a lawsuit brought by rabbis and synagogues who said the restrictions were unconstitutional and sought to have enforcement delayed until after the Jewish holy days.

(AP)



8 Responses

  1. No hosplizatiin. Enough. All the dems what is control. Nothing to do with virus they just want control and we will not give in

  2. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY AND COMPLETELY HORRIFFYING SCARILY TERRIBLY HORRIFIC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IS THE FREE EXERCISE CLAUSE DEAD IN THIS COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO HAVE RELIGIOUS SERVICES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    DO WE HAVE NO PROTECTION FROM THE TYRANNY OF KING CUOMO COMRADE DEBLASIO AND THEIR INQUISITION WITH THEIR ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS ACTIONS DESIGNED TO DESTROY RELIGION IN NY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    we obviously need to think about why hashem is allowing these reshaim to trample on our constitutional rights and to daven that he destroy them together with their evil anti semitic decrees

  3. Thanks to MANY OF OUR DOCTORS (who are far from being Tzadikim) who are not giving Hydroxychloroquine + Zinc + Vitamin D + Azithromycin in the first 24-36 hours of the COVID symptoms.

    This is the reason why there is a rise in Hospitalization and death.

    Coumo doesn’t want to help the people, in fact the more people are hospitalized the happier he is.

    Did you hear any recommendations for the people to take Vitamin D, C, Zinc, Quercetin?
    No!

  4. Do you believe your gibberish makes any more sense because you use CAPS? Try punctuation and proper grammar, when you come up for some air.

  5. Judiasm isn’t about rights, it is about obligations. The Supreme Court earlier this year in a case from another state ruled that unless the restrictions on religious gatherings are stricter than for non-religious gatherings, no rights are violated. And the restrictions on religious gatherings are less strict than for live theatrical performances. All Broadway performances have been cancelled well into 2021 and they aren’t suing.

    And in fact there is nothing wrong with having services outdoors. I went to outdoor services all weekend, with masks and social distancing. It was fine! The holy Kotel Plaza is outdoors. The Courtyard of the Beit HaMikdash was outdoors? We do not need to hold mass spreading events!

  6. Common sense; all ur wordings of anger and all ur !!!!! are legitimate yet WE HAVE NO CHOICE. They have control and unfortunately use it against us. But when the non Jews see a virus rage in the Jewish community, why do u people think we’ll get sympathy? Unfortunately we are HATED for our despicable behavior of unrest.
    As sickening as Cuomos lockdowns are, WE HAVE TO OBLIGE as we are decent citizens AND never forget ; we are Yiden in Galus and our very good friends and neighbors DO NOT LIKE THIS NEWS and are hateful to us. So the less we talk, and the more we just listen like upstanding citizens, the better it will be for all of us.
    With that said, I also concur that it’s about CONTROL but there’s nothing that a Jew can do about it. Lets heed all precautions and with G ds help, this will end very soon.

  7. Look up Great Barrington Declaration
    3 top epidemiologists from Harvard Stamford and Oxford joined by 35 top docs from Israel and other sites declares that lockdowns are Wrong!
    Since it was published on October 4, in 7 days 22,900+ other medical practitioners and 8,900+ Medical and public health scientists as well as over 400,200 concerned citizens signed along!
    Follow the science!
    Cut out the lockdowns!

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