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Behind the Aegis

(53,831 posts)
Wed May 6, 2020, 04:16 PM May 2020

(Jewish Group) How the coronavirus is hitting Jewish communities worldwide

The impact of the coronavirus on the Jewish world is a study in contrasts.

In Israel, where the total death toll as of Tuesday was 238 and the number of new daily infections below 50, the country has significantly eased its lockdown. School has resumed for some grades, businesses have reopened, and on Thursday beaches and outdoor markets are slated to reopen.

But in many large Jewish communities worldwide, the coronavirus is still wreaking a terrible toll. Among the 8 million Jews living in the Diaspora — more than Israel’s 6.7 million but less than its overall population of 9.2 million — the death toll is in the thousands and climbing.

It’s impossible to say exactly how many Jews have died of COVID-19 because governments don’t count the deaths of their Jewish citizens separately and, in most places, the Jewish community doesn’t have a full accounting of those who have lost their lives.

What’s clear is that the Jewish rate of death is exponentially higher in the Diaspora compared to Israel and that the virus is devastating the Jewish world. In many places, the infection and death rate among Jews is also far higher than the local non-Jewish population.

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More people in my state have died from COVID-19 than in all of Israel, which has a population twice the size of Oklahoma!
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