Brooklyn school in blatant violation as mayor praises COVID-19 restrictions
MIDWOOD, Brooklyn (WABC) -- New York City officials say it is a decisive week in the fight against COVID-19 and while new restrictions appear to be lowering the rate, at least one religious institution was found flagrantly ignoring the rules.
On the same day that the mayor praised efforts to suppress the coronavirus, Eyewitness News found hundreds of young children being dismissed from a school.
They were herded onto buses Tuesday afternoon, some wearing masks, some not. All of them were attending Bais Yaacov School on 51st Street.
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A school that is clearly in the state's Red Zone-where schools have been ordered closed, mass gatherings have been banned and religious gatherings are limited to no more than 10 people.
In this Eyewitness News exclusive, video shows community members reacting with hostility, this after last week a mob set masks on fire, beat a photographer and allegedly attacked a journalist.
The city's test and trace corps has descended on South Brooklyn, determined to track the virus in places where infections had become dangerously high. Mask wearing has become widespread in neighborhoods where they were virtually non-existent just a few weeks ago.
On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said those efforts appear to be working in certain communities. And infection rates appear to be leveling off.
"This is the week where we can start to turn the tide in those Red Zone areas and contain the problem that we're seeing there," he said. "I fundamentally believe this challenge can be contained, I fundamentally believe that we can stop this problem we're seeing in Brooklyn, Queens before it grows."
But with some institutions apparently disregarding the state's executive order, the infection rate could rise again as public health authorities work to prevent another citywide outbreak.
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