The white supremacist groups also advised followers to go to "any place they [Jews] may be congregated” to spread the virus including businesses, places of worship, and markets, the alert warned. According to ABC News, white supremacists have been blaming Jewish leaders and people for both the coronavirus and global response to it for weeks. Extremists even blamed the Jewish community for the shutdown of government activities in New York, New Jersey, and California, organizations that monitor white supremacist messaging found. Social media posts by extremists and conspiracy theorists are even attempting to connect “Chinese efforts to safely dispose of victims’ bodies to cast doubt on the number of Jews who died during the Holocaust, the Anti-Defamation League reported.

"From pushing the idea that Jews created the coronavirus virus to sell vaccines to encouraging infected followers to try to spread the illness to the Jewish community and law enforcement, as the coronavirus has spread, we have observed how white-supremacists, neo-Nazis and others have used this to drive their own conspiracy theories, spread disinformation and incite violence on their online platforms," Michael Masters, head of the Secure Communities Network nonprofit that coordinates security for Jewish organizations and synagogues nationwide, told ABC News. "While the world faces a deadly pandemic, it’s a stark reminder that certain groups – notably the Jewish community and law enforcement – must also continue the battle against those who wish to hurt or kill them," Masters added. "As the economic situation remains fragile and civil society disrupted, the potential for the followers of hate to act becomes more likely ... and more deadly."

The alert comes at a time in which New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo disclosed new statistics that indicated the state now has roughly 5% of coronavirus cases worldwide. New York has 16,887 confirmed cases as of this report, The New York Times reported.

At the end of 2019, New York reported over 10 anti-Semitic incidents in a period of three weeks. According to CNN, the New York Police Department reported over 160 anti-Semitic incidents between January through September of 2019 alone. While most of these crimes do not involve assault, anti-Semitic incidents are the most commonly reported hate crimes in New York City. White supremacists not only hope the virus kills Jewish people but are using fear of COVID-19 to continue their racist agenda and increase anti-Semitism, according to the Anti-Defamation League.