NYC Issues $150K In Coronavirus Fines Over Weekend

NEW YORK CITY — A new crackdown on coronavirus rules in New York City’s new color-coded closure zones netted $150,000 in fines, officials said.

City agents handed out 62 summonses over the weekend starting Oct. 9, according to a tweet from the city’s official Twitter account.

The summonses included five to “non-compliant religious congregations,” the tweet stated.

All the summonses were issued in red, orange and yellow zones focused around coronavirus clusters in Brooklyn and Queens. The zones have varying degrees of restrictions, ranging from red’s near-total lockdown of houses of worship to yellow’s weekly testing rules for schools.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo created the zones after Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed localized closures to slow the coronavirus’ alarming spread in those communities.

But many Orthodox Jewish people felt the restrictions unfairly targeted them. They conducted several days of at-times violent protests.

The city’s involvement in enforcement efforts is an abrupt turnaround from officials’ largely hands off approach. Patch recently found actions on coronavirus complaints citywide slowed to a trickle in September, when the virus started its resurgence in mostly-Orthodox Jewish areas.

Mayor’s office officials tasked with enforcing restrictions at businesses issued only 500 tickets in September, down from 1,900 in July, for example.