Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

‘Rise up red zones:’ Businesses hurt by virus shutdown implore Brooklynites to shop local

An initiative by the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition is calling on Brooklyn residents to support local small businesses in largely Jewish neighborhoods that were,until recently, designated “red zones,” under New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 policies.

“After struggling through a difficult red zone shut down, shopping local has never been more important to us,” said the red signs appearing on several Brooklyn businesses.

Many New York businesses have struggled financially in the last year, and according to the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs, more than 1 million New Yorkers were receiving unemployment benefits as of September.

In early October, several Brooklyn neighborhoods with large Jewish communities were designated “red zones” by Gov. Cuomo, meaning they had coronavirus positivity rates of more than 4% for at least 10 days.

This week, many of the neighborhoods, including parts of heavily-Orthodox Midwood, dropped to an “orange” designation as coronavirus cases subsided, allowing businesses to begin to reopen.

The coronavirus spike and subsequent restrictions on schools and businesses triggered demonstrations against the governor’s decision, saying that restrictions were discriminatory and specifically targeted at the Orthodox community.

Now, schools are still shuttered and synagogues are limited to 33% capacity, but many nonessential businesses have been permitted to reopen.

However, despite the decline in those neighborhoods, positivity rate are rising in the rest of New York State, topping 3% statewide for the first time since May.

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.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

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.