October 1, 2020 Covid test? only if you’re 100% healthy!
This sign reads “A Mask or a Slap!” Only figure of speech, of course!
I recently wrote about the uptick in cases among Hasidic Jews, which has been receiving a lot of attention lately. Mayor de Blasio is threatening with a shutdown, and cops are swarming the community, reportedly giving fines for mask non-compliance.
The community is frantically trying to avoid a shutdown. The first solution had been to discourage people from testing, so that the net number of positives stays low. But then it created a new problem: The percentage of positives, as a ratio of total tests conducted, ticked up to 4.7, while the rest of the city remained at 1-2%.
It’s a catch 22. If only those who have good reason to get tested do it, then the negatives stay down, but the ratio goes up. On the other hand, if the community embraces mass testing on the scale of the rest of the city, then it can cause too many positives to show up. The solution? Test healthy people only!
Here is the latest call to action from community leaders:
[Translated]
CRITICAL REQUEST
From the leadership of the community institutions.
Yesterday Tuesday afternoon there was a conference call between the office of Mayor de Blasio, the city health department, together with the heads of the community institutions, where those government very clearly told the community leaders that in light of the new increase in Williamsburg, they are preparing in the near days to shut down our schools and synagogues and close shops.
They very clearly articulated that if there won’t be a dramatic change in the numbers of positive cases in the coming days, then they will immediately take action and immediately lock everything.
In light of this, the leadership of the community decided to undertake emergency action to save the schools and synagogues so we don’t god-forbid find ourselves again where we were several months ago, for which the only solution is to drastically increase the number of tests on healthy people, and thereby decrease the positive rate in the neighborhood.
Therefore we are conducting an emergency testing drive in a series of locals.
And we implore those who feel “100 percent healthy and well” to come and take a test and save the situation.
The test takes just a few seconds and it’s just a small wipe in the nose, and you can save the schools and synagogues and Jewish incomes.
There will be free testing from the community in a series of locals.
Remember, it is only a moment without any pain and and on it hangs our ability to go on with Judaism unbothered!
Hasidic underground during lockdown - Frieda Vizel
Posted at 08:19h, 29 July[…] did this, which I already wrote about, was by telling people to get tested only if they were “100% healthy”. This was a way to get the community’s ratio of negative-to-positive tests to go down, so as […]