Authorities stormed several Coronavirus hotspots in the city this week, issuing more than 60 summonses and tens of thousands of dollars in fines to people, businesses and places of worship who did not comply with the newly imposed restrictions on gatherings or mask-wearing and social. Eliminate requirements.
Among those summoned by the New York City sheriff are a restaurant and at least five places of worship in the city’s “red zone”, where coronavirus infection rates are highest. Sheriff Joseph Fusito said summonses were issued at each of the locations, which could result in a fine of 15 15,000.
First, officials hit 62 tickets and fined more than ,000 150,000 during the weekend when the new sanctions took effect. The New York City government’s Twitter account said Sunday.
The city is battling an extreme epidemic crisis after the virus spread to five boroughs in March. Since mid-August, city and state officials say large gatherings and social distance have led to an increase in new cases in the pockets of Brooklyn and Queens, many of them in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods. The spike prompted the government to issue new restrictions on a large number of gatherings and informal businesses in certain parts of the city.
The moment has already set the restless city on edge, especially as doctors, specialists and health officials express growing concern about a second wave of the virus this winter. It has also made the challenges faced by city officials disappear as they try to contain emerging hot spots before the virus spreads to the rest of the city in small communities.
Some clerics strongly protested last week when Mr. Cuomo announced a new executive order, as the number of cases in the pockets of Brooklyn and Queens, which have large populations of Orthodox Jews, continues to rise.
The Orthodox Jewish community was ravaged by the coronavirus in the spring, while local officials and ultra-rooted news organizations said hundreds of people may have died, including beloved religious leaders.
The new restrictions are the most significant shock to the city’s recovery, taking back most of New York’s most acceptable parts since the most restrictive start days of this spring’s epidemic.
According to Mr. Kumo’s executive order, the highest infection rate – or in a neighborhood with a “red zone” – is that houses of worship are limited to 25 percent capacity or a maximum of 10 people. Elsewhere, where rates are low but still alarming, the “orange zone” is limited to 33 percent of capacity and the “yellow zone” is limited to 100 percent of capacity.
“I understand the desire to hold big religious events. I understand how important it is for their culture and their religion, “Mr Kuomo told reporters by phone on Sunday. “I also understand that in fact it endangers human life.”
The governor urged rabbis and other Jewish leaders to encourage their group to stay at home, amid reports that many synagogues openly disobeyed state orders and served in person. Jewish education, Mr. Cuomo said, allows for the postponement of rituals for matters of health and safety.
“The virus is likely to spread,” he said.
While the positivity rate was 7.7 percent in the state’s 20 “red zone” neighborhoods, the positivity rate was less than one percent in the rest of New York State, in which those clusters were excluded.
On Tuesday, Mr. Cuomo’s order, which came during the Jewish holiday in Sukkot and just before the Simhat Torah, caused an immediate backlash in the city’s rhetorical Jewish neighborhood, where religious leaders targeted religious minorities at Mr. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The National Dispute Order Association has filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the new rules. Protests erupted in the Brooklyn Borough Park neighborhood, where hundreds of protesters – most of them rioters, most of them did not wear masks – burned masks on the streets.
But on Friday, a federal court ruled that the new state’s rules could go ahead, citing officials’ responsibility to protect “all New Yorkers.”
“How can we ignore the state’s lucrative interest in protecting the health and lives of all New Yorkers?” Judge Kiyo A. of the Federal District Court in Brooklyn.
The Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has filed a separate lawsuit objecting to the new ban, saying it would force the closure of several churches in the borough. A judge in that case also ruled that the governor’s order could go ahead.
The Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on whether worship houses, churches, synagogues, mosques or other religious institutions were cited during the week.
The office also broke down Illegal Rev. in Cunningham Park, In Queens, where more than 110 people gathered and broke city rules. The organizers of the event were cited and accused of violating the health code, Sheriff Fusito said.
Sheriff Fusito, whose office is a handful of city agencies responsible for enforcing the new rules, said his agents rarely cite individuals if they comply with requests to wear masks or better study social distance.
“If they wear masks, we won’t write tickets for that,” he said. He said most of the objectives written by his office fees included multiple violations or negligent disregard of city rules.
Demonstrations among the Orthodox community were boring over the weekend, with no major demonstrations.
