Three Westchester-Area Orthodox Jewish Schools Close Due to Coronavirus

By: Sandy Eller

An Orthodox Jewish man has been hospitalized with coronavirus, prompting the closure of three local yeshivas, according to a report on the Vois Es Nais (VIN) web site.

In a Tuesday morning news conference, Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said that the 50-year-old man lives in Westchester with his family and had traveled to Miami, although he was not infected with the virus at that time.

VIN reported that according to Cuomo, the man has a child who attends the SAR yeshiva in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. Parents at the yeshiva were notified by elementary and high school principals Rabbi Binyamin Kraus and Rabbi Tully Harcsztark that both schools would be closed for the day as a precautionary measure because of a suspected case of coronavirus “in our community.” No one at SAR was available to comment on the matter and Cuomo confirmed that the school closed on its own accord.

According to the governor, the man is an attorney and had been hospitalized at Lawrence Hospital and subsequently transferred to an unnamed New York City hospital, as was reported by VIN.

Both Westchester Day School and Westchester Torah Academy also closed for the day. Parents at Westchester Torah Academy were told that buses would be turned around to send students back home. VIN reported that school officials said that they remain in close contact with both the Westchester County Department of Health and the White Plains Public School District and would be following their guidelines. No one at any either yeshiva was available to comment on the coronavirus closures.

In a press conference on Tuesday morning, Cuomo described the spread of coronavirus as “inevitable” and said that the state would continue its efforts to manage the outbreak.

Yet another case of someone testing positive for the Coronavirus was discussed but Cuomo said the second case was not a “cause for anxiety.” He said that experts expected the disease to surface in multiple areas of the state and expected that it would most likely spread.

According to a New York Times report, a state lab in Albany confirmed the case overnight.

The governor also said two families from Buffalo who recently traveled to areas in Italy that are experiencing outbreaks are also being tested for the virus and are isolated, according to a report at TheHill.com.

“We don’t see any direct connection,” Cuomo said, according to the Times.

Cuomo announced the first identified case of coronavirus in the state Sunday, saying the victim is a health care worker who was recently visiting Iran, which has been struck with the second-highest number of deaths from the virus outside of China, behind South Korea.

(VIN)