These stories bring me such pain. It is a combination of ignorance (believing it can’t happen to you even as your neighbors fall ill) and selfishness.
Joseph- I agree that there is 99% compliance in the community. You’ve never seen Lakewood so quiet.
Eliezer- there are plenty of letters signed by doctors and rabbis saying it’s chillul HaShem, staying over and over not to visit family for Pesach, how to handle levaya and shiva, no shul/ minyan/ any other gathering. If people aren’t listening, pointing it out again won’t change them.
I wish that we could call it fake news. Unfortunately, the papers have now been posting the names and streets of each event, now including all attendees that were ticketed. I can only hope that they happen to have the same names, as I can’t imagine someone I know disregarding the law, and lashon hara means I’m better off never questioning it.