New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, said on Saturday that a wedding was prohibited from taking place after it was discovered that the venue was set to hold nearly 10,000 guests.
For perspective, the CDC provided interim COVID-19 guidelines for group gatherings in April which asserted that people should not reside in groups of more than 10 people if higher-risk populations are involved.
He stated that the Rockland County Sheriff’s office instructed those invited to not attend the ceremony, just before a New York Health Commissioner, Dr. Howard Ducker signed an official prohibition of the wedding.
Cuomo said of discovering plans for the wedding, “We received a suggestion that that was happening. We did an investigation and found that it was likely true.” He elaborated, "Look, you can get married, you just can't have 1,000 people at your wedding."
The parties subjected to the shutdown order do have the option to plead with health officials to reverse Ducker’s decision but have not publicly issued a rebuttal to the state government.
The wedding was slated to be held outside of Brooklyn’s most contaminated regions, but the government’s caution may be less surprising to those aware that New York City alone has accounted for roughly 24,000 COVID-19 deaths, more than 10 percent of the total U.S. death toll.
The Governor’s acts remain divisive, as he is currently subject to a lawsuit for "anti-Semitic discrimination" after limiting large religious gatherings within the COVID-19 “cluster zones”.
The Jewish Orthodox community asserts that Cuomo is unjustly discriminating and prohibiting them from exercising their freedom to religion.
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