Thread by @YossiGestetner

@ChaskelBennett Last year, Purim was March 10th. Two days later Trump suspended travel from Europe because things were bad, and within days deaths were spiking in the North East. From infection-to-death takes more time than the days between Purim and the surge. cc @shirahanau

https://twitter.com/HaMeturgeman/status/1369998754925920260

@HaMeturgeman I am not saying that Purim helped matters, but Purim coincided with an existing surge as we see that cases/deaths rose in areas with no Orthodox Jews and it happened in less days than the usual infection-to-death count because the surge was seeded before Purim.

And of course, @ChaskelBennett’s core point stands. Namely that pre-Purim, large gatherings were not yet banned. Indeed, Cuomo banned events of 500 or more on Thursday March 12th which was 2 days after Purim. We also had this from the @NYCMayor:

https://twitter.com/OJPAC/status/1258457761509191680

@yossy770 Orthodox Judaism involves many mass gatherings. It’s not worse on Purim than on a random winter day; it’s just with diff people at diff places such as in school and shul on a regular day vs the home of in-laws or grand parents on Purim. Cc @shirahanau @HaMeturgeman

My point is I don’t see how Purim was more super spreader than a random day in Orthodox Jewish life. Secondly, Coronavirus was seeded in the North East by/before Purim no matter the way of life; among non-Jews too. To make Purim the big factor is just an obsession that changes 0.

I have no clue how Purim being a super spreader or not matters. What changes? “Authorities need to reach out to religious communities”? Um, during Purim Fauci still favored cruises for healthy people; large gatherings were still permitted; Corona was being seeded everywhere.