Research team looks into COVID-19's effect on Orthodox Jewish community in Montreal area
CBC
Shalom Grunwald, who owns a bagel shop near one of Montreal's Orthodox Jewish communities, says the pandemic hasn't been easy.
Not just because of the illness in the community, but also all the health regulations that came with it.
"We do go three times a day to synagogue and that's something we couldn't do at the time," he said. "We had to close down the synagogue."
That type of experience is part of what researchers are looking into as they study how COVID-19 affected Orthodox Jews in the greater Montreal area — a community that was hit hard by the virus.
"It's to look at the strength of immunity in the Orthodox community and also to see what lessons can be learned for the future out of their experiences out of the pandemic," said Dr. Peter Nugus.
He's with Canada's COVID-19 Immunity Task Force and the lead investigator of the study that will be looking at everything linked to the spread of the disease in the community.
That includes "their level of trust in particular institutions and in health services — also their beliefs around vaccinations," he said.