Tue 07 April 2020:
A New York Muslim firefighter has tested positive for coronavirus nine days after three teenagers deliberately sneezed on him, The New York Post reports.
The alleged sneeze assault on Omar Sattar, 33, is described in a letter from Lt. Kasey Koslowski of Engine Co. 282 to Thomas Richardson, the Department’s Chief of Operations.
While the engine company responded to a call Sattar was inspecting a hydrant when he was approached by “three Hasidic Jewish teens.” The trio “taunted him and asked him if he was afraid of the coronavirus,” the letter says.
“After repeated attempts to keep distance from the boys, one of them sneezed into his face and they ran off,” it says.
The firefighter started experiencing flu-like symptoms four days after the “unusual occurrence,” the letter says. He was subsequently tested for coronavirus and placed on medical leave on March 24 while awaiting the results. The test came back positive on March 27.
Though the incident cannot scientifically be directly linked to his positive testing, it shows a “lack of disregard” for New York’s lockdown, the letter added.
“In a time when personal space and social distancing is at an all-time high, it is going to take a cumulative effort from everyone to defeat this virus, including the residents of [Borough] Park,” it said.
However, the New York’s fire department [FDNY] rejected the “unofficial letter”.
“We cannot comment on the veracity of the report,” FDNY Spokesman Jim Long told The New York Post.
Meanwhile, social media users on Twitter mobilised against what was described as Islamophobic reporting of the story, with many slamming the initial report for highlighting convictions attributed to the firefighters father.
“@nypost take responsibility and stop trying to make him look bad when he did absolutely NOTHING,” one Twitter user said.
“Now he has coronavirus. but the article wants to highlight things which are irrelevant, the article wants to talk about the victims father, and trying to relate the father’s actions/past to the son’s (victim) present. Trash,” the user added.
The Covid-19 virus, which was first detected in China’s Wuhan in December, has killed more than 76,383 people worldwide, while over 1,363,123 infections have been confirmed.
The majority of those that infected with Covid-19 experience only mild or moderate symptoms, including fever and a dry cough.
There are still no known treatments for the virus, though more than 293,839 have already recovered from the infection.
The US has 368,174 confirmed cases of the disease, which has killed 10,966 across the country.
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