NY ultra-Orthodox are acting like they have herd immunity. Could they be right?

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ny-ultra-orthodox-are-acting-like-they-have-herd-immunity-could-they-be-right/

 The front page of the June 26 issue of Der Yid, one of the most widely circulated Yiddish newspapers among New York’s ultra-Orthodox communities, made the point loud and clear. “And so it was after the plague.” 

That sentiment appears to be guiding life in Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox communities, where nearly four months after the virus first arrived, synagogues and camps are open, religious schools resumed classes before closing for summer break and wedding halls are packed again, sometimes in violation of city and state rules designed to slow the spread of disease.

Continued gatherings of ultra-Orthodox Jews drew criticism from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and others in the city this spring who said the communities were not doing their part to stop the spread of the virus. But inside the communities, the overwhelming perception is that most people have had the virus and may now be immune. 

“We have paid a terrible price in order to achieve this statistic that is more than double that of our neighbors in Flatbush, and certainly much more than that of New York City, or for that matter any other community in the country,” the Gedaliah Society wrote on May 20. “This high rate of past infection community wide will, with the help of [God], protect us from the virus reactivating and spreading again locally, which would thereby put the vulnerable at high risk.”

And behind the veil of normalcy — and the pain of loss — linger deep and unsettling questions about how safe the community really is.

One concern is that older people and others who are at higher risk may be continuing to isolate for fear of infecting themselves now that the communities have relaxed their restrictions.

Few of those people, who may have isolated themselves earlier and more fully than others, are likely to have antibodies.

“That’s the one thing that really scares me,” Hayum, the nurse practitioner, said. “That a lot of the people who were locked up for three months have no antibodies, which means if there is a second wave, they’re going to be very vulnerable.”