Coronavirus devastates Harlem church, claims nine members

Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem has lost nine members of its church to coronavirus.

The church, which has been hit by the deadly coronavirus has recorded nine members who died from the virus in the month of March alone.

This was disclosed on Thursday April 16, 2020 by Reverend Dr. Johnnie Green, the overseer of the church.

Green expressed great sadness over the heartbreaking situation saying that his church has been the hardest hit religious institution by the Covid-19 in the city.

“It was heartbreaking and heart wrenching for me. I weeped. I weeped,” lamented Reverend Green.

“The way these deaths have come, at the pace they’ve come, this is unprecedented,” he said.

Due to the spread of Covid-19, Green has for weeks been holding services via Facebook streaming live updates about his congregation.

Describing the days he had lost the members that he described iconic in the history of the church, Green said those days happened to be the most difficult days of his 41 years in the Ministry.

While describing the situation, Cordell Cleare, a member of the church and a community activist said that the church is a microcosm of the black and Hispanic neighborhoods situations in the city.

“It signals the huge disparity in health, in health period, between people of color, black people and Latino people, as opposed to the rest of the population,” Cleare said.

Green’s church has a 1,200-member congregation which is a large number compared to other churches in the city.