Lakewood Corona Update: Minyanim, Simchos and More

L’kvod the Tzibur of Lakewood, NJ:

We would like to update you regarding the status of the Covid-19 infection rate, hospital capacity, Aiva, minyanim, weddings and more.

NEW HOSPITALIZATIONS FOR COVID-19
We are carefully monitoring, on a daily basis, the rate of Covid-19 new hospitalizations in our community. לא עלינו, starting two weeks after Purim, we were seeing a high of 20 additional people per day transported to the hospital, with most needing intensive care, and too many requiring to be completely sedated and placed on ventilators. The week before Pesach new hospitalizations leveled off to an average of 10 per day. Over the past week new people needing hospitalization has further dropped to an average of 3 per day.

This is relatively good news, however is no cause for celebration – over the past week 15 new families have a seriousחולה שיש בו סכנה in the hospital in need of רחמי שמים and our תפילות.

It is also no cause for celebration as we soberly remember that we have had close to 50 Levayos, לא עלינו, in our community to date.

The reduction in new hospitalizations is a result of all of us carefully observing the social distancing rules, and is a credit to the מסירת נפש and תפילות of the entire community. We know how exceptionally hard it was for so many families to make Pesach for the first time, and how much sacrifice and struggle our families have in staying home, cooped up under the most trying circumstances.

We also know of the exceptional and tragic sacrifice this placed on our תורה ותפילה, בפרט on our ability to daven תפילה בציבור.

HOSPITAL CAPACITY
While vital hospital medications and equipment are in short supply, and available hospital bed capacity is extremely strained, together with Bikur Cholim, we have been working with our local hospitals to dramatically increase bed capacity. Our local hospitals have added over 200 additional beds to date, and they are adding more each day.

So far one patient who was unable to breathe and was being intubated in a Hatzolah ambulance could not be admitted to a local hospital, as there were no beds, endangering his life. The ambulance was diverted to a more distant hospital, and is Baruch Hashem doing much better.

Since then the tight bed capacity has eased, with our rate of new hospitalizations dropping and as new beds are added. We believe we are for the moment out of this danger of not having enough beds but will continue to monitor this closely.

We express special thanks to Bill Arnold, President of Southern Region for Monmouth Medical Center and his team, for spending their day and night adding bed and vent capacity. We express the same thanks to Dr. Elliot Frank, Medical Director of Jersey Shore Medical Center and his team for doing the same. We add endless appreciation to all the healthcare workers who are in the battle nonstop to save lives.

AIVA
While this pandemic crisis began with a terrible narrative that posited that “Lakewood is non-compliant” we have seen a distinct turn in that narrative by the major news outlets. The Asbury Park Press is consistently reporting the truth – that Lakewood is 99.99% compliant, that our streets are empty, schools are closed, and non-essential shops shuttered. Other major news outlets have been less accurate in their reporting, but have also improved in their reporting.

Social media continues to be filled with hatred and falsehoods about Lakewood, yet overall the atmosphere has shifted from rampant false allegations about how “bad” Lakewood is, to an honest narrative. This has impacted policy makers; we have moved a long way from when some of our own state leaders were publicly criticizing Lakewood to the present, where such critiques are absent.

One nearby township’s leadership is a rare exception, they have called for a ghetto to be drawn with armed soldiers surrounding Lakewood, mirroring such “forced quarantines” that were placed around other locales, including the Tosh Kehilla in Quebec, and in Eretz Yisroel.

In short, the reduction in Aiva is significant, yet it requires constant vigilance, and our entire community’s care to avoid mistakes that might lend inadvertent credence to this false narrative.

MINYANIM
With the real reductions in our rate of new hospitalizations, and with the improvement in the public Aiva atmosphere, we have reached out to the state to formally request that they permit “porch” and possibly “backyard” minyanim, so long as those are wholly compliant with the state’s social distancing rules. We are pleased to share that the state has indicated that they open to doing so.

We hope to have updated state guidelines that explicitly permit “porch” and possibly “backyard” minyanim, under certain stringent conditions, shortly. We have shared this development with the 4 BMG Poskim.

They have indicated that they can then accordingly carefully update their פסקים to the ציבור, as our community would not be seeing people overstepping any conditions, nor making mistakes, nor any excessive enforcement and Aiva challenges.

We reiterate that how important it will be to strictly follow any guidelines and rules.

Stand by for updates on this, which we hope to have shortly, which would restore תפילה בציבור to our lives, and which would hopefully tip the scales of רחמי שמים and bring רפואות and ישועות to all.

WEDDINGS
With Chasuna season upcoming, we have received many questions about weddings, and have reached out to the authorities whether they could permit neighbors to be משמח with families making weddings, in a socially-distant compliant way. This is a work in progress, and we hope to be able to provide an update on this shortly.

We thank you all and encourage all to continue in your diligent observance of the social distancing rules in every aspect of your lives – you are literally saving irreplaceable נפשות.

With broken hearts at the tragic losses that we have suffered, and with our sincere and profound wishes for the return of תורה ותפילה בציבור to Klal Yisroel, which combined with the incredible חסד which has poured forth during this crisis, will IY”H bring the ultimate גאולה שלימה.

Dr. David Friedman, Chemed
R’ Yehuda Kaszirer, Bikur Cholim of Lakewood
Rabbi Aaron Kotler, R’ Eli Tabak, R’ Eli Liberman, R’ Moishe Tress, Beth Medrash Govoha
Dr. Howard Lebowitz and Dr. Daniel Roth
Meir Lichtenstein, Hatzolah of Central Jersey (with the approval of Hatzolahs’ Vaad HaRabbonim)

{Matzav.com}