New York shutters schools in high infection zones, many of them Orthodox

6 October 2020, 5:43 pm

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Hundreds of public and private schools in New York City neighborhoods seeing flare-ups of COVID-19 infections are not opening this morning.

The affected areas are largely Orthodox Jewish strongholds, and some community members have complained of being singled out for enforcement.

Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered the closing of schools in nine Brooklyn and Queens ZIP codes on Monday. He also said that he hadn’t made a decision yet on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposal to close nonessential businesses in the neighborhoods.

Students wearing masks walk to school in the Kensington neighborhood, September 29, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP/Mark Lennihan)

“These clusters have to be attacked,” Cuomo said of the areas where coronavirus infection rates are higher than in the rest of the city.

The nine ZIP codes where schools were closed have accounted for more than 20% of all new infections in the city over the past four weeks, though they represent just 7% of the population.