Important possible paths to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic are testing capacity for immunity and use of convalescent plasma for coronavirus patients. Clinical trials are underway to determine their effectiveness, with several studies in the United States and beyond. This demands blood samples from patients who have recovered.
 
Of the thousands of recovered COVID-19 patients who have flocked to donate plasma to help the fight against the virus, Hasidic and Orthodox Jews account for half. There has been such an uptick in volunteers wanting to donate that facilities in New York and New Jersey are full, prompting recovered volunteers to drive to Pennsylvania and Delaware to donate. 
 
While the virus hit New York with immense force, public health data suggests the Hasidic community was affected at higher rates than other religious and ethnic groups, taking a severe toll in terms of grief and hardship. The reasons for the disproportionate infections are not entirely clear. A spokesman for Chabad (one of the world’s largest Jewish religious organizations) attributes the community’s vulnerability to its commitment to their rituals and the prevalence of multigenerational households. However, another explanation is well publicized religious events organized by some Hasidic communities in Brooklyn in violation of physical distancing rules. The situation highlights the tensions surrounding public health calls to halt gatherings and alter certain rituals.
 
The plasma drive has given organizers and volunteers a renewed sense of purpose during these harrowing times. Factors like the close social ties that bond Hasidic society, religious commitment to the value of human life, and networks of organizers has allowed the community to turn hardship into something good. Mr. Mordy Serle, a Brooklyn-based lawyer who has organized recovered patients in donating plasma, insists, “I think the Jewish people are a little bit like a rubber band. You know, the more you pull them down, the more they’re going to snap back up.” Dr. Schmuel Shoham, a doctor leading a plasma trial at Johns Hopkins University, remarked, “the community has taken a tragedy and turned it into a superpower.”

(Based on: April 21, 2020, New York Times article; May 12, 2020, New York Times article; and May 28, 2020, CBS News story)