New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday he was cracking down on a few Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods following a spike in COVID-19 infections.
According to HuffPost, city officials will start issuing fines in those areas to people who refuse to wear masks.
Hundreds of outreach workers and contact tracers are going to nine Brooklyn and Queens ZIP codes that have seen an upswing in positive COVID-19 tests.
While they are collectively home to just 7% of the city’s population, the nine ZIP codes accounted for 25% of the city’s positive tests in the last two weeks.
They'll hand out masks, but also insist that people wear them if they within 6 feet of other people. Scofflaws will receive a $1000 fine.