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Opinion | Religious gatherings around the world inflame the virus

2020-04-07T19:33:59.054Z


Around the world, some religious gatherings continue to take place, despite the widespread knowledge that large groups of people facilitate the spread of the coronavirus and challenge ...


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(Credit: EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI / AFP via Getty Images)

Editor's Note: Peter Bergen is a CNN National Security Analyst, Vice President of New America and Professor of Practice at Arizona State University. He is editor of the Coronavirus Daily Brief and author of the new book "Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos". The opinions expressed in this comment are yours.

(CNN) - Around the world, some religious gatherings continue to take place, despite the widespread knowledge that large groups of people facilitate the spread of the coronavirus and defy government restrictions on such gatherings.

Examples of this inexplicably irresponsible behavior can be found in Iraq, Israel, Pakistan, and the United States.

In Israel, ultra-Orthodox Jews continue to hold crowded religious gatherings despite the government banning such gatherings, according to the New York Times. Unsurprisingly, Covid-19 may be spreading up to eight times faster among ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel than among the general population.

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The problem has become so serious that the Israeli government has closed an ultra-Orthodox city, Bnei Brak, and road blockages prevent residents from leaving it.

In the Pakistani financial capital of Karachi, which has a population of around 15 million, the provincial government ordered a closure during Friday prayers when worshipers generally gather in mosques. On Friday, enraged worshipers clashed with police as they tried to impose the blockade.

In Iraq, in late March, abaya-clad women packed the Imam Musa al-Kadhim shrine in Baghdad while implying that their faith kept them safe from the coronavirus.

On Sunday, Pastor Tony Spell of the Life Tabernacle Church near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, held services despite orders by the Governor of Louisiana for confinement due to the pandemic. Channeling inside Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), Spell told hundreds of his parishioners, many of whom had arrived on more than two dozen buses, that they had "nothing to fear but fear themselves."

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The danger of such religious gatherings is underlined by anecdotes of how the coronavirus may have spread in countries like France and India. A prayer meeting at a church in Mulhouse, France in late February unintentionally started “what soon became one of the largest regional infection groups in Europe, which then quickly spread across the country and eventually , abroad, ”according to the Washington Post. In another case reported by the Washington Post last month in India, thousands of members of a Muslim missionary group gathered in New Delhi, which later became a "super propagator" event when attendees spread the virus across the country. country when they dispersed.

The United States should consider these cases as examples of what not to do. While many want to continue worshiping in this time of crisis, the risks of meeting to celebrate services in person are too great.

The Lord really works in mysterious ways and even President Donald Trump is participating in the act, saying at a White House press conference on Saturday that he is considering allowing "special" churches to hold services outside "with great separation" by Easter this coming Sunday. This occurred during the same press conference in which he warned that Americans should expect "a lot of death" in the coming weeks.

At the moment, the Trump administration has offered no guidance on whether churches can hold Easter services in person. But the president must consider the consequences and prioritize the health of the American people.

coronavirus

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-04-07

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