Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Facebook map shows Lakewood, an Orthodox stronghold in New Jersey, spreading coronavirus

(JTA) — The coronavirus pandemic has spurred anti-Semitic chatter connected to Lakewood, a New Jersey township with a large Orthodox population, on social networks.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy responded by condemning racism connected to the coronavirus.

“Scapegoating, bullying, or vilification of any community is completely unacceptable – today or ever,” Murphy wrote on Twitter. “There is a special place in hell for the small minority that do this during this crisis.”

As of Thursday, Lakewood had 198 COVID-19 cases, by far the most in Ocean County, according to the county Health Department, the Asbury Park Press news site reported. Officials have not said which parts of town or particular communities are experiencing cases.

An online petition that was circulated Thursday called for Lakewood to be “shut down” during the pandemic. It received thousands of signatures but appears to have been removed.

On Facebook, groups for residents of Ocean County and Jackson Township, which borders Lakewood in the southern part of the state, featured maps showing Lakewood spreading the disease.

Murphy also said that there have been a few examples of “non-compliant behavior,” but communities across the state have taken the threat of the virus seriously.

Police in Lakewood last week arrested at least two Jewish men for hosting weddings with more than 50 people present in violation of state rules designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

A third wedding was broken up Thursday, NJ.com reported. The report did not say whether the event was a Jewish one.

The post Facebook map shows Lakewood, an Orthodox stronghold in New Jersey, spreading coronavirus appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.