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In recent weeks, there have been clusters of new COVID-19 cases - largely in Orthodox Jewish communities - which have forced New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to scale back some areas in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Hudson Valley.
Frustrations boiled over this week, when a large crowd protesting the new COVID-19 mandates - which include restrictions on how many people can attend religious gatherings - started a fire and assaulted photographers while. marching toward City Hall in New York City.
According to the New York Post, following Cuomo’s announcement of new COVID-19 restrictions, members of predominately Hasidic communities could be seen congregating without masks in protest, though no arrests were made by the NYPD.
The report states that law enforcement has been instructed to go easy on the Jewish community and that Hasidic groups are “dealt with a gentle touch” by police.
Cluster restrictions will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 9, and will be in effect for at least 14 days, at which point health officials will review the data and determine whether or not some communities can open back up.
Cuomo’s office has been monitoring 20 zip codes that saw a day-to-day infection rate of 5.8 percent, while the rest of the state was at 1.01 percent. Of those 20 zip codes, nine are in Brooklyn, four are in Queens, four are in Rockland County, and three are in Orange County.
Cuomo said that the state’s strategy is to “crush the cluster and stop the spread” in justifying his plan to take additional action in areas deemed hotspots.
“Step one, you take the most dramatic action within the cluster itself where you have the highest density of cases,” he said. "Understanding that the people in that cluster interface with the surrounding communities, take additional action in the communities surrounding the cluster.
“Then as a precautionary measure, take action in the communities that are outlying that area.”
Statewide, there were 108,246 COVID-19 tests administered yesterday, with 1,360 (1.25 percent) testing positive. There are currently 748 people hospitalized with the virus, up more than 100 from last week. There were eight new fatalities.
Since the pandemic began, New York has administered 11,501,629 COVID-19 tests, with 468,268 testing positive. A total of 25,545 New Yorkers have died since mid-March.
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