As many as 100 people have been exposed to the coronavirus after paying a shiva call in Maryland, the Forward reported.
The news comes after three residents of Montgomery County adjoining Washington were diagnosed with the disease after contracting it on a Nile River cruise. They had shown symptoms upon their return, but at the time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only recommended tests for people who were traveling to China, according to a Washington Post report.
One of the three people confirmed as having the virus visited the shiva at The Village at Rockville retirement community in Montgomery County on February 28 before being diagnosed, exposing everyone who came.
According to the grandson of the man who died, the attendees numbered anywhere from 70 to 100.
Meanwhile, seven Jewish schools in Baltimore last Friday announced they would be canceling all extracurricular Purim activities due to the coronavirus outbreak. The schools include Bais Yaakov School for Girls, Bnos Yisroel, Cheder Chabad, Ohr Chadash Academy, Talmudical Academy, Torah Institute and Toras Simcha.
“After taking into consideration nationally published information by the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], state and local health departments, Johns Hopkins University’s recent precautionary measures to cancel public events, the precautions of other communities and institutions, and Torah Umesorah’s recent recommendations for schools provided by their medical consultants and Daas Torah, we have decided that it is unfortunately necessary to cancel all upcoming extracurricular Purim events for our schools,” the schools wrote in a letter to parents.
The schools emphasized that regular classroom activities would still take place.
Last Thursday, Bnos Yisroel sent three girls home because they had “possible indirect contact” with a person diagnosed with coronavirus.
“We have been made aware of possible indirect contact between three of our students and someone who tested positive for the coronavirus in New York. We have been in touch with the Baltimore City Health Department, the CDC, the Department of Health, and local rabbanim. Per their recommendations, the three students were sent home earlier today,” the school wrote in a statement.
Rabbi Ariel Sadwin of Baltimore told the Baltimore Sun the girls may have been indirectly in contact with someone from Westchester County, New York, who is infected.
According to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus tracking map, as of Sunday, there were no cases of coronavirus in Baltimore, but there were three confirmed cases in nearby Montgomery County and one in Washington, DC. The map indicated that there were 57 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Westchester County, New York.