‘Fear of death rules every corner’ as coronavirus spreads through NY’s Jewish neighborhoods

“People shut themselves up at home, afraid the death angel will knock on their window,” one resident said.

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

Coronavirus has killed at least 40 Jews in New York neighborhoods over the past two days.

“Fear of death rules every corner here,” one of the residents told Arutz 7. “People shut themselves up at home, afraid the death angel will knock on their window.”

“It is no longer a question of acting too late or who is to blame. People are just dealing with the need to live,” he said.

Most of the dead were over 60 and included teachers and community leaders. The following is a brief list of some of the victims.

Rabbi Abraham Aaron Rubashkin, 92, was the founder of the famous Agriprocessors kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa.

Rabbi Matis Blum was the Rabbi of Congregation Torah Lodaas in Queens.

Rabbi Meir Rokeach, 78, was leader of the Kozlover Hasidic community of Boro Park.

Rabbi Dovid Olewski was the head of the Gerrer Yeshiva in Boro Park.

Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Littman, 71, taught for many years at Yeshiva Ohel Torah in Monsey.

New York has become the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. with more than 3,500 of the country’s 8,400 deaths occurring in the state.

Most of those are in New York City, whose death toll has risen to over 1,900.

On Saturday, Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters that in the past day alone, coronavirus had killed 630 people in New York State.

He praised China for facilitating a shipment of 1,000 ventilators. President Donald Trump said states are making inflated requests for supplies and suggested he had a hand in the shipment.

“We have given the governor of New York more than anybody has ever been given in a long time,” Trump told reporters in Washington.

Trump warned Saturday that the country could be headed into its toughest weeks, but also said he’s eager to get it reopened and its stalled economy back on track.

“There will be a lot of death, unfortunately,” the American president said in a somber start to his daily briefing on the pandemic. “There will be death.”

AP contributed to this report.

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