Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20a87_4g15.pdf
Page Number: 26.0

4 

ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF BROOKLYN v. CUOMO 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

applicants  must  make  such  a  showing  here  to  show  that
they  are  entitled  to  “the  extraordinary  remedy  of  injunc-
tion.”  Ibid. (internal quotation marks omitted).

COVID–19 has infected more than 12 million Americans 
and caused more than 250,000 deaths nationwide.  At least 
26,000  of  those  deaths  have  occurred  in  the State  of  New 
York, with 16,000 in New York City alone.  And the number 
of  COVID–19  cases  is  many  times  the  number  of  deaths.
The Nation is now experiencing a second surge of infections. 
In  New  York,  for  example,  the  7-day  average  of  new  con-
firmed cases per day has risen from around 700 at the end 
of  the  summer  to  over  4,800  last  week.    Nationwide,  the 
number of new confirmed cases per day is now higher than
it  has  ever  been.    Brief  in  Opposition  in  No.  20A87,  at  1;
COVID in the U. S.: Latest Map and Case Count (Nov. 24,
2020), http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/corona-
virus-us-cases.html#states;  New  York  COVID  Map  and 
Case Count (Nov. 24, 2020), http://www.nytimes.com/inter-
active/2020/us/new-york-coronavirus-cases.html.

At the same time, members of the scientific and medical 
communities tell us that the virus is transmitted from per-
son to person through respiratory droplets produced when
a  person  or  group  of  people  talk,  sing,  cough,  or  breathe
near each other.  Brief in Opposition in No. 20A87, at 3 (cit-
ing the World Health Organization); Brief of the American 
Medical Association as Amici Curiae 5–6.  Thus, according 
to experts, the risk of transmission is higher when people 
are in close contact with one another for prolonged periods 
of  time,  particularly  indoors  or  in  other  enclosed  spaces. 
Id., at 3–6.  The nature of the epidemic, the spikes, the un-
certainties, and the need for quick action, taken together,
mean  that  the  State  has  countervailing  arguments  based 
upon health, safety, and administrative considerations that 
must be balanced against the applicants’ First Amendment 
challenges.
  That  fact,  along  with  others  that  JUSTICE 
SOTOMAYOR describes, means that the applicants’ claim of