The proportion of positive coronavirus tests has started to rise again in New York, especially in several areas with large Orthodox Jewish populations, state Governor Andrew Cuomo warned on Monday.
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Figures for the past 24 hours show 1.5% positive tests – 834 out of some 52,936 tests performed, Mr Cuomo tweeted, as that percentage had peaked at 1% for days.
After being hit very hard by the coronavirus in the spring, with a record 23,800 deaths in New York City alone since March, authorities have boasted in recent weeks of the lowest positivity and contamination rates of major American cities.
If the average of 1.5% of positive tests is still relatively low, in particular compared to the current outbreak of cases in Europe, it hides sources of contagion qualified as “worrying” by the health authorities, in particular in several districts of Brooklyn with a large Orthodox population.
In some of these neighborhoods, the contamination rate has soared to more than 5-6%, against 1% in the whole city, in particular thanks to the Jewish holidays which end on Monday with the celebration of Yom Kippur, according to New York health authorities.
Among the places where positivity is increasing, Governor Cuomo cited on Monday, in addition to Brooklyn, two counties in the New York suburbs, Rockland and Orange, where a large Orthodox population also resides.
The increase in Brooklyn worries authorities in the American economic capital all the more since it comes as public schools must reopen their doors for part-face education by the end of the week, reopening that the city has already postponed twice.
“We are potentially at the most vulnerable time to the virus that we have known for months”, declared Friday the head of municipal health services Dave Chokshi, during a press point organized in a district of Brooklyn particularly affected, heckled by opponents of the mask.
While announcing communication actions on the need for barrier gestures and the wearing of masks in the coming days, the health services have warned that they will inspect non-public schools – including many yeshivas – in the coming days, and sanction establishments where wearing a mask and distancing were not respected.
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