Corona virus and your shul

[chevron]

Or other institution.

When these events happen, they help me become aware of precautionary measure that can help overall.

I've seen many shulls not take soap seriously.

Many people won't use soap on Shabbat etc..

What has your shull done?

[yuneeq]

The 2 Lakewood shuls I go to have done absolutely nothing. Nothing in regards to awareness or better policies. Everyone shaking hands, no sanitizer to be found, no disinfecting commonly touched surfaces, no telling people that are sick or coughing to stay home. OTOH I heard in that in Brooklyn and Long Island they aren’t shaking hands and taking it far more seriously.

[yitzgar]

The 2 Lakewood shuls I go to have done absolutely nothing. Nothing in regards to awareness or better policies. Everyone shaking hands, no sanitizer to be found, no disinfecting commonly touched surfaces, no telling people that are sick or coughing to stay home. OTOH I heard in that in Brooklyn and Long Island they aren’t shaking hands and taking it far more seriously.

Hand sanitizer I hear, but shaking hands is on the people, not the shul.

[ckmk47]

Hand sanitizer I hear, but shaking hands is on the people, not the shul.

By my husband, the Rov got up at kabolas Shabbos and said no handshaking.

[yitzgar]

By my husband, the Rov got up at kabolas Shabbos and said no handshaking.

That's fine but I wouldn't have anything against a shul that doesn't announce it. It's up to people to take care of themselves if they are nervous.

[yuneeq]

Hand sanitizer I hear, but shaking hands is on the people, not the shul.

Doesn’t matter what people want to do, the rabbi shouldn’t allow it. Ignoring the people that are uninformed or selfish, think about how quickly the shul will get shut down when a member is confirmed to have the virus.

[yitzgar]

Doesn’t matter what people want to do, the rabbi shouldn’t allow it. Ignoring the people that are uninformed or selfish, think about how quickly the shul will get shut down when a member is confirmed to have the virus.

The virus doesn't generate from shaking hands. Someone has to have it first, in which case the shul will be closed regardless.

[Luvisrael]

I was in an out of town community for shabbos and at the kidddush everything was served in small one person portions

[Luvisrael]

The 2 Lakewood shuls I go to have done absolutely nothing. Nothing in regards to awareness or better policies. Everyone shaking hands, no sanitizer to be found, no disinfecting commonly touched surfaces, no telling people that are sick or coughing to stay home. OTOH I heard in that in Brooklyn and Long Island they aren’t shaking hands and taking it far more seriously.

people won’t take it seriously until it comes to their community, than it will hit home

[yuneeq]

The virus doesn't generate from shaking hands. Someone has to have it first, in which case the shul will be closed regardless.

Good point but I think a shul with 30 cases will be shut far longer than a shul with 1. Any rabbi has the right to decide if people shake hands in shul, look out for the uninformed...you don’t like it pray elsewhere.

people won’t take it seriously until it comes to their community, than it will hit home

It’s in their community already, we just don’t know about it yet...

[avromie7]

Good point but I think a shul with 30 cases will be shut far longer than a shul with 1.

In westchester it was just 1 person when they closed the shul.

[Yonah]

For some reference, I live in Westchester:

- Most of our Yeshivas (WDS, WTA, Lefell, Carmel, SAR) are now closed and operating virtually for at least the next week. (Some were already closed last week as well)
- Several Shuls in the Area - 1 in NR, 1 in Scarsdale, and 2 in White Plains (1 Orthodox, 1 conservative) have canceled davening for purim.
- I know for a fact that the NR shul has several confirmed cases, and the two White Plains shuls are sharing space while the orthodox shul is under construction, and there is at least one confirmed case. The scarsdale shul has enough overlap with NR/WP that there is likely to be a confirmed case already if not soon.

- AFAIK, all of those shuls are livestreaming megilla tonight and tomorrow
- The remaining shul in White Plains is also livestreaming the megilla, and is expecting to lain megilla outdoors in its parking lot. They have also recommended that people in High-risk situations not come to shul.

 I was out of the country for a wedding in E"Y last week, my shabbos host had to ask about permission for me to attend davening on shabbos as the vaad of his shul prohibited visitors from outside Israel and anyone who'd been overseas from coming to shul. The Rav of that shul was not only adamant about hand-washing, but he also stood by the door and asked everyone walking in the door to purell their hands as he wished them good shabbos.

[as2]

Still not sure why people will take these precautions now, but not during flu season.

[yuneeq]

Still not sure why people will take these precautions now, but not during flu season.

Still not sure why people are still comparing this to the flu

[avromie7]

Still not sure why people are still comparing this to the flu

Because it's very similar to the flu in many ways. It's really not all you're hyping it up to be. All the panic I'm seeing is a fear of the unknown.

[yuneeq]

Because it's very similar to the flu in many ways. It's really not all you're hyping it up to be. All the panic I'm seeing is a fear of the unknown.

Lol

[as2]

Lol

Elaborate. Why is this so much worse (or worse at all) and why is this attention not given to the flu?

[Yonah]

Still not sure why people will take these precautions now, but not during flu season.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/09/can-a-face-mask-stop-coronavirus-covid-19-facts-checked

The bottom line - we do take precautions in the flu season, including flu shots, which lowers (but doesn't eliminate) risk of getting the flu, and can also decrease the symptoms and length of the flu.

While more people die from the flu each year, significantly more people get the flu. I believe that the flu has a fatality rate of 0.1% - or if there was a shul that had 1000 people, 1 would die from the flu.

So far COVID19 has a fatality rate of about 3% - about 3500 fatalities on ~ 110K infections. So the same shul that has 1000 people - at least 30 would die from Corona - 30x more deadly than the regular flu. (Based on the shady accounting by some countries, scientists estimate that the actual fatality rate is more like 1% - but still 10x greater than the common flu).

[yuneeq]

Elaborate. Why is this so much worse (or worse at all) and why is this attention not given to the flu?

How about we start backwards.
If it's just the flu, why is the entire world, starting with China, shutting down their economies?

[yuneeq]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/09/can-a-face-mask-stop-coronavirus-covid-19-facts-checked

The bottom line - we do take precautions in the flu season, including flu shots, which lowers (but doesn't eliminate) risk of getting the flu, and can also decrease the symptoms and length of the flu.

While more people die from the flu each year, significantly more people get the flu. I believe that the flu has a fatality rate of 0.1% - or if there was a shul that had 1000 people, 1 would die from the flu.

So far COVID19 has a fatality rate of about 3% - about 3500 fatalities on ~ 110K infections. So the same shul that has 1000 people - at least 30 would die from Corona - 30x more deadly than the regular flu. (Based on the shady accounting by some countries, scientists estimate that the actual fatality rate is more like 1% - but still 10x greater than the common flu).

Let's add - none of these estimates take the hospitalization rate into account - already in Italy they are using triage to decide who gets treatment. Same happened in Wuhan, and will happen elsewhere.