With 160,499 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 12,000 confirmed deaths, New York City is now the epicenter of the global pandemic. Who's to blame? Let's ask our mayor:

"My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple," Bill de Blasio tweeted late last night. "The time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period."

Ah, so that's the cause of the trouble. It's the nasty Jews! The sweaty hordes threatening their innocent neighbors with their diseased bodies and souls, as they did yesterday for a funeral for which the community coordinated with the NYPD. It's true that throngs crowd Central Park daily, that in Riverside Park it's nearly impossible to avoid maskless joggers panting their spit well within 6 feet of you. It's also true that just yesterday hundreds of New Yorkers stood very closely together to watch the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds perform a flyover tribute to health care workers.

None of these other people are problematic, though--presumably because they aren't a danger to others. The danger to others--the danger that must be broadcast to the mayor's 1.5 million Twitter followers and to 8 million New Yorkers, some of which have spent the past few years growing increasingly and violently anti-Semitic--is the Jews.