I'm concerned: Florida has very high and increasing numbers of COVID cases in recent weeks. Frum communities, in multiple major cities, have had cases as well. Isn't this precisely the scenario which spurred New York to close down right after Purim?
Meaning, even before there was a general shutdown, the guidance was for Shuls with any positive cases should close in order to not spread the virus. This would seem to apply here.
Yet I haven't heard about Shuls, or camps, or any Jewish institutions in Florida closing right now. And presumably if the Jewish institutions aren't closed, their clientele isn't refraining from other in-person interactions either. This sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Wouldn't the OU/RCA guidelines from March support closing? I understand that it's hard to stay closed, and that especially when the governor wants to stay open it's even harder. But is Pikkuach Nefesh no longer applicable?
At this point do we just allow COVID to take its victims? And then risk having people from Florida travel to New York and reintroduce community spread here? (There are documented cases of this.)
Am I missing something here, or is this simply wishful and magical thinking that what happened to New York's Frum community in April won't happen in Florida right now?
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