At his press conference on Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city government would enforce the no big meeting rules on any churches or synagogues meeting this weekend. He guessed that a few dozen small, poor congregations were still meeting in person.
The mayor emphasized that all religious leaders that the city contacted were already not worshipping together in person. He said, “We have spoken to religious leaders of all backgrounds… So many of our religious leaders have really taken a lead and said to their congregation, said to members of our faith communities that we have to act differently now. A vast majority of houses of worship have stopped their traditional worship service. If they could, they went online, they went on the radio, whatever they could do, but they’ve stopped gathering people, understanding the nature of the crisis.”
However,De Blasio claims, “What we’re seeing is a small number and I don’t have a perfect number for you. I think it could be you know, only a few dozen that you know, maybe it’s a storefront church, maybe it’s a small synagogue, but we are seeing in certain communities, smaller religious institutions that despite everyone around them acting, they still are refusing.”
So, the NYPD, Fire Department, Buildings Department, and everyone else in city government will act in concert to close religious groups that don’t obey the do not meet limitations. The mayor said that the police, fire, health, and building departments have “been instructed that if they see worship services going on, they will go to the officials of that congregation, they’ll inform them they need to stop the services and disperse. If that does not happen, they will take additional action up to the point of fines and potentially closing the building permanently. Again, that will begin this weekend. “
The mayor urged anyone who sees such a service should call 3-1-1.
He outlined how the city would response to such a call: “It will be acted on immediately. It begins with a warning to disperse. If they disperse immediately and obviously our enforcement agents would watch that happen, make sure that happens. If they refuse to disperse, there would be a fines that could be levied. if we see any recurrence, we would move immediately, or refusal, we would move immediately to have the Department of Health issue in order to have the building shuttered,”
