No More Excuses

When I wrote about the coronavirus in early November, the death toll was at the 230,000 mark, with the US daily death toll averaging 1,000. At the beginning of December, there were 2,500 victims on some days and 100,000 hospitalized. Looking back at those figures helps us see the horror we now face.

Nearly two months later, there have been nearly 420,000 fatalities — more than the number of American soldiers killed in all of World War II — with a daily average of close to 4,000. It took four months to reach the 100,000 mark, but little over a month to go from 300,000 to 400,000.

Several weeks ago, I wrote an article in these pages describing Agudath Israel of America’s successful legal challenge to the coronavirus-related restrictions New York Governor Andrew Cuomo placed on shuls and yeshivos this past fall. The United States Supreme Court, followed by a lower federal appellate court, ruled that those limitations violated Orthodox Jews’ First Amendment rights to free religious practice.

I’m happy I wrote that piece, and there isn’t anything in it I would change. I agree with the legal analysis. I agree that the governor unfairly targeted our community. I agree that far more reasonable, appropriately tailored restrictions could have been imposed.