138 Five Towns doctors plea to Orthodox community: Follow the rules!

You trust us to deliver your babies, treat your children, manage your chronic conditions, and fix your fractures. We collectively request that you trust us in this, as well.”

With an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Orthodox communities including the Five Towns potentially casting a pall over the upcoming Yomin Noraim, 138 local physicians signed the following “open letter to the Jewish Commumity of the 5 Towns” that was distributed on Tuesday.

We are writing to express our unanimous medical opinion regarding our community’s actions and attitudes towards the COVID-19 pandemic. Our consensus group includes physicians from a variety of specialties. We wish to express our clear and concerted support for some positions that we feel are medically indisputable:

1) COVID-19 remains a clear and present danger. After a quiet summer, cases are now on the rise, specifically in our community. COVID-19 is not a political issue, nor is it old news. If our goal is to keep shuls and schools open and our neighborhood stores in business, we need to recognize that the uptick demands that we take it seriously and follow appropriate precautions.

2) People who have a positive test, recent exposure or who have been in a region requiring quarantine need to strictly uphold the quarantine without exception, including for shul and school. In questions of doubt regarding exposure, we should attempt to be stringent, not lenient. Travel from states on the NYS designated travel advisory list or known COVID-19 exposure requires a 14-day quarantine period. In the event of a positive COVID test, an individual is required to isolate for at minimum 10 days, or longer based on the duration of symptoms. The quarantine regulations are not suggestions, they are absolute requirements. Violating them will undoubtedly lead to accelerated community spread and puts lives at real risk. People should be in close contact with their physicians regarding any COVID-related concerns.

3) Masking to prevent COVID-19 infection has a strong evidence base that is agreed upon by the overwhelming majority of doctors and public health experts. There is no credible evidence that masks have any risks for those who wear them. They are most effective when worn both by those who have the virus and those at risk of catching it. Wearing a mask is not just about one’s personal choice, but also about not spreading the virus to others in the event of asymptomatic or early infection. Masks should not have a breathing valve or vent, since these expose others to potential infection. Masks with breathing valves are for protecting the wearer from environmental dust and debris and NOT meant for infection control.

4) Local schools and yeshivot have invested substantial effort into formulating safe plans to allow schools to open and remain open. The details of these plans may vary, but the medical advisory boards have done their utmost to ensure schools can stay open safely. By helping their children adhere to these new rules, parents can play an integral role in enabling in-person school to continue.

5) As current contact tracing evidence has shown, many of the new cases of infection have arisen from large gatherings (weddings, bar and bat mitzvah, concerts…) where social distancing and/or mask wearing was not strictly observed. While we pray that we should know of happy occasions, these must be celebrated according to a “new norm” and in a fashion that will cause the least risk of community transmission. Large gatherings are best kept to a small number of people, outdoors if possible, with social distancing and mask rules applied. More information can be found at bit.ly/31KrHDZ

Finally, biomedical research is a body of knowledge like any other. Interpreting it requires knowledge of medicine and understanding of statistics. Assuming that someone has thoroughly researched a position based on their reading a popular summary or even an abstract alone can lead to erroneous and dangerous conclusions. 

You trust us to take care of you when you are sick and at your most vulnerable, and in life and death decisions. You trust us to deliver your babies, treat your children, manage your chronic conditions, and fix your fractures. We collectively request that you trust us in this, as well.

With wishes for a shana tova/healthy new year,

Rabbi Aaron E. Glatt, Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology

Alissa Hersh, Allergy and Immunology

Hylton Lightman, Pediatrics

Ilana Pister, Pediatrics

Pamela Singer, MD, Pediatric Nephrology

Joshua Schechter, Emergency Medicine/Internal Medicine

Annie Frenkel, OBGYN

Marc J. Sicklick, Allergy and Immunology

Steven Kellner, Pediatrics

David Rosenberg, Pediatrics

Joseph Rozenbaum, Pediatrics

Dan A. Kaufman, Anesthesiology

Marcel Scheinman, Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery

Ray Sultan, Urology

Alisa Minkin, Pediatrics

Tova Fischer Isseroff, Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery

Jonathan Zinberg, Gastroenterology

Elie Lowenstein, Dermatology

Harold S. Hefter, Dermatology & Dermatologic Surgery

Sherrie Neustein, Pediatrics

Alyssa Feiner, Dermatology

Moshe Weizberg, Emergency Medicine

Donnie Isseroff, Anesthesiology

Jill Leibowitz, Pediatrics 

Stanley Goldstein, Allergy, Immunology, Pediatric Pulmonary

Steve Mermelstein, Pulmonary

Jonathan Y Rosner, Maternal Fetal Medicine 

Yussy Silverstein, Pediatrics

Rebecca Zausmer, Pediatrics 

Edward Stroh, Ophthalmology Retina Specialist

Norman Saffra, Ophthalmology

Frida Popilevsky, Pulmonary and Critical Care

Daniel Haller, Acute Care Surgery 

Sam Singer, Neuro-Oncology

Ben Chill, Emergency Medicine

Danny Bamira, Cardiovascular Disease

Josh Greenstein, Emergency Medicine 

Sam Weissman, Gastroenterology

Joshua Kalowitz, Breast Cancer

Aaron B. Grotas, Urology

Shari Seinuk-Ross, Pediatrics 

Seymour Huberfeld, Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine

Shira Burnstein, Internal Medicine

Steven Weiss, Infectious Diseases 

Farid Shahkoohi, Internal Medicine 

Steven Kadish, Gastroenterology

Sheldon P. Hersh, Otolaryngologist

Elizabeth Edelstein, Family Medicine/Urgent Care

Joseph Simpson, Anesthesiology

Elliot M. Paul, Urology

Elliott Salamon, Vascular Neurology

Jordan Brodsky, Rheumatology 

Robert van Amerongen, Urgent Care/Pediatrics/Emergency

Yoseph Gurevich, Pediatric Gastroenterology

Jacob Rauchwerger, Pain Management 

Daphna Shiffeldrim, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

David Wolfson, Ob/gyn

Max S. Scheer,, Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases

Karyn Chanie Ginaburg, Endocrinology

Haim Brandspiegel, Cardiology 

Peretz Lock, Internal Medicine

Yaakov Lipshitz, Hematology/Oncology

Charles Mitgang, Internal Medicine 

Naomi Schwartz, Pediatrics

Harold Lipsky, Gastroenterology

Miriam R. Lieberman, Dermatology 

Anne Steiner, Ophthalmology 

Ari Steiner, Radiology

Aviva Preminger, Plastic Surgery

Victor Milloul, Anesthesiology

Ezra Haller, Nephrology/Internal Medicine

Cindy Haller, Pediatric Gastroenterology

David Hersh, Cardiology 

Dan Geisler, Anesthesiology

Rabbi Chaim S. Abittan, Gastroenterology/Hepatology

Shloime Dalezman, Nephrology

Yosefa Hefter, Pediatric Infectious Disease

Miriam Knoll, Radiation Oncology 

Michael Grushko, Cardiology/EP

Debbie Rybak, Infectious Diseases

Sheldon Gorbacz, Pathology

Suzanne Sirota Rozenberg, Dermatology

Shoni Rozenberg, Dermatology

Barbara Schwartz, PM&R

Freddie Marton, Pediatric Neurology

Shira Wieder, Dermatology

Eli Halpert, Vascular and Interventional

Rabin Rahmani, Gastroenterology

Zahava Hersh, Family Practice

Martin E Kessler, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Deborah Lief-Dienstag, Pediatrics

Zev Carrey, Internal, Pulmonary, Critical Care Medicine

Paul Friedmann, Nephrology

Daniel Frogel, Emergency Medicine

David E. Simai, Pediatrics

Victor Rosenberg, Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Fred Greenstein, Urology

Hana Ilan, PM&R

Elliot Lederman, Internal medicine

Nechama (Nina) Ackerman, Emergency Medicine

Israel Samson, Internal Medicine

Ira L. Weg, Cardiology

Brian Wetchler, Internal Medicine 

Israel S Berkowitz, Cardiolog

Alyssa Scheiner, General Surgery

Michael R. Levine, Internal Medicine

Abby Basalely, Pediatric Nephrology

Charles Traube, Cardiology

Yussi Mosak, Rheumatology 

Janine Nathan, Pediatrics

Gerald Schulman, Pediatrics

Jay Fenster, Gastroenterology

Benjamin Levine, Rheumatology

Simcha Herrmann, Pain Management

Leonard A. Feiner, Ophthalmology

Jeff Lumerman, Urologist

Jonathan Schulhof, Ophthalmology

Abraham I Green, Pediatrics

Zev Ash, Pediatrics

Mark Sperber, Pediatrics

Ari Ginsberg, Hematology/Oncology

Moshe Schlusselberg, Pediatrics

Max Halpern, Pediatrics

Stephen Henesch, Diagnostic and Pediatric Radiology

Rivkie Penstein-Hirt, OBGYN 

Ingrid Soltys, Pediatrician

Jeffrey A Spivak, Internal Medicine/Cardiology

Arnold Stein, Ophthalmology

Samuel Sandowski, Family Medicine/Adolescent Medicine

Michael I. Oppenheim, Infectious Disease

Jessica L. Kirschner, Pediatrics 

Morey Klein, Cardiology

Judith Green, General Pediatrics

Marilyn Kattuputhusseril, Pediatrics

Avi Schiowitz, Internal Medicine 

Miriam Flaum, Anesthesia

Yacov Stollman, Gastroenterology

Jeffrey Frieling, Ophthalmology