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In March last year, the second laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 case in New York was contact traced back to a 50-year-old lawyer from New Rochelle who attended religious gatherings that became the first “super-spreader” event in the country.
In response, on March 10, 2020, with more than 100 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Westchester and the numbers on the rise, Cuomo announced a one-mile “containment zone” with Young Israel Synagogue, where the attorney attended a wedding and bar mitzvah at the epicenter.
Large gathering places such as schools or places of worship within the mile of the synagogue were all closed for two weeks to allow for sanitizing, cleaning and monitoring of the virus in the area.
The National Guard was also called in to assist in cleaning efforts, and Northwell Labs set up one of the nation’s first COVID-19 testing sites within the containment zone.
In his oft-criticized book “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic” which he wrote while the virus was still raging in New York, Cuomo addressed his initial actions in New Rochelle, admitting that there were communication errors at the beginning of the pandemic.
“The pushback was fierce," Cuomo wrote in the book, addressing those who criticized his administration for shutting things down. "The Orthodox community didn't want to shut their schools, and they felt discriminated against. They were a sizable political constituency and the local officials were intimidated.”
Cuomo also said that naming the area around the temple a “containment zone” was an error in judgment and communication, as he meant it as a place to contain the virus, not New Rochelle residents.
“But the term was misunderstood, and I soon realized that a poorly worded phrase was very dangerous," he stated. "The quick escalation from mild concern to high anxiety surprised even me.
“This was (my) first major communications mistake of the crisis, he said. “And (I) did not want to make any more.”
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