New York Jewish school says 29 students, staff diagnosed with virus

SAR academy in the Bronx was first Jewish day school to close after father of student came down with COVID-19

JTA — Administrators at the SAR Academy say they know of 29 confirmed cases of coronavirus at the New York City Jewish day school, including faculty, students and staff.

The number was disclosed in an email Monday to parents and faculty. Fewer than 1,000 cases of the virus had been confirmed throughout the United States as of Tuesday afternoon.

SAR was the first New York Jewish day school to close as a result of the epidemic, after it emerged that a student had the disease.

It is located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, just a short drive from New Rochelle in suburban Westchester County, where officials established a one-mile containment zone on Tuesday in an effort to stop the spread of the virus.

Media wearing protective mask film outside the Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue, New York on March 10, 2020, at the center of a Westchester County outbreak (TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

One synagogue there, the Young Israel of New Rochelle, has been closed for more than a week.

The cascading effects of the virus continued to be felt across the Jewish world on Tuesday, as a fifth case was confirmed among participants at the AIPAC conference in Washington, DC, earlier this month and multiple other planned Jewish gatherings were canceled or moved online.

More than 100 flights to Israel were canceled on Tuesday as the Jewish state was about to inaugurate new quarantine rules for international travelers.