New York’s governor will be meeting with Orthodox Jewish community leaders in Rockland, Orange, Brooklyn and elsewhere about the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in those areas. Governor Andrew Cuomo says the lack of compliance at religious ceremonies, which are only supposed to be at 50 percent capacity, is helping to create clusters that he’s concerned could lead to “community spread.”
Cuomo emphasized the more aggressive stance in those communities is done out of “love” for the Orthodox Jewish community and to keep the infection rate down so fewer people get sick and die. On Twitter, his advice was simple: “Wear a mask. Wash hands. No big gatherings. Get tested.”
Palisades Center says pent-up demand and feedback from both tenants and guests have convinced the mall operator to return to normal hours of operation this Friday. Starting Friday hours will be 10am to 9:30pm Monday through Saturday and 11am to 7pm on Sunday.
COVID-19 by the numbers now, here in Rockland, we’ve got seven in the hospital being examined, another 15 have been confirmed with coronavirus, and a total of 672 active cases. The state says since the crisis began, we’ve had a total of 15,342 reported cases, 65 more than Tuesday (15,277), and the Rockland Health Department says we have 676 total fatalities, the first since September 9th.