Hasidic Jews make up nearly 65 percent of the total population in Williamsburg. (This might fit your on-purpose theory.)
However, there is "gentrification" going on there now as well, which means liberal hipsters have moved in. (This would fit your he's-an-idiot theory.)
I'm going with the latter.
I would think observant Jews would have some degree of behavioral insulation and protection. Since last spring/summer when this latest outbreak started to erupt and I was reading about its spread in Africa being largely attributed to their handling of the dead, I started thinking about Numbers 19:11-22.
For something written a few thousand years ago, it actually outlines a pretty sophisticated decon procedure and puts in place "protocols," at least as good as anything the CDC has come up with.