Years ago, when I spent summers with my family at a bungalow colony, it used to bother me that there were breakaway minyanim even though there was a shul. Therefore, I can appreciate Rabbi Schonfeld’s frustration as he expressed in his column in last week’s paper (“Bamos: Still a Major Problem”). However, I believe he is mistaken in painting with a broad brush by claiming that outdoor minyanim exist because they are convenient and comfortable and not because of the COVID situation. As someone who davens both in shul and outside, there are many reasons why people daven outside. It is safer to daven outside. There is always airflow. Under most circumstances, under the new CDC guidelines, you can go without a mask. Contrast this with davening inside. The air is stagnant. Many times, no windows are open. If you want to open a window, especially if it is hot or cold outside, there is pushback. Also, there has been a decrease in people wearing masks in shuls either based on the shul policy or worshippers on their own deciding not to wear masks. This is not including those who do not wear the masks properly (covering both their mouth and nose).