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NY-Presbyterian Hospital Revises Visitation Guidelines Due to Coronavirus

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Health and safety are always our top priorities at NewYork-Presbyterian. We have been preparing and planning for COVID-19 and will continue to provide the exceptional care all of our patients and families have come to expect from us every day. Photo Credit: weillcornell.org

By: NYP Staff

In response to the evolving COVID-19 outbreak and in line with our revised Visitation Guidelines, only select entrances will be open at each Hospital throughout the NewYork-Presbyterian system. All other entrances will be closed and inaccessible to patients, visitors, and staff. The health and safety of our patients, visitors, employees, and our communities remain our top priority at NewYork-Presbyterian. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Health and safety are always our top priorities at NewYork-Presbyterian. We have been preparing and planning for COVID-19 and will continue to provide the exceptional care all of our patients and families have come to expect from us every day.

We have implemented vigorous policies and procedures and are following all governmental recommendations about the new coronavirus (COVID-19).

Many of our patients have reached out with common questions. Below you will find the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including guidance on how to keep yourself and your loved ones healthy.

The CDC recommends everyday preventive actions to help stop the spread of coronavirus, including:

  • Wash your hands thoroughly or use alcohol-based hand sanitizers.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
  • Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
  • Stay home when you are sick and encourage family to do the same.
  • Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash and immediately wash your hands. No tissue? Cough or sneeze into your elbow, not your hands.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

Responses to Frequently Asked Questions

How serious is this virus and what are the range of symptoms?

Most people will only have mild symptoms, but some can become very sick. Symptoms can include fever, cough, or shortness of breath.

How long before symptoms of the virus appear?

The CDC believes at this time that symptoms of COVID-19 may appear between two and 14 days after exposure.

What happens if I’ve been exposed to someone with the virus or diagnosed with COVID-19?

If you think you may have been exposed to COVID-19 and have symptoms such as fever, cough, or shortness of breath, before going to a doctor’s office or emergency room, call ahead and tell them about your symptoms and any recent travel. You can also utilize NewYork-Presbyterian’s virtual care platform NYP OnDemand to meet with a doctor by video conference. Depending on the severity of your symptoms, your doctor will determine whether or not you need to come in to be evaluated. Avoid contact with others and wear a face mask if you need to leave your home when you are sick.

Can I visit family or friends who are patients at NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals?

Yes, you can still visit family or friends at NewYork-Presbyterian. We understand how important the support of loved ones and friends is to patients during their hospital stay. At the same time, the new coronavirus requires us to temporarily adjust our visiting policy in order to keep our patients and visitors safe from infection. Please see our updated visitor guidelines at: https://www.nyp.org/coronavirus-information/coronavirus-visitor-policy-change

I have a trip planned. Should I cancel it?

The CDC provides recommendations—called travel notices—on postponing or canceling travel. These notices are based on assessments of the potential health risks involved in traveling to a certain area. Here is a list of destinations with travel notices.

For more information:

NewYork-Presbyterian is committed to providing our patients with updated information. Please visit our website nyp.org for the latest news.

If you have concerns regarding COVID-19, please call NewYork-Presbyterian’s hotline at 646-697-4000. This hotline is available as a public service to provide information only and not to diagnose, treat, or render a medical opinion.

If you are not feeling well, consider using NewYork-Presbyterian’s Virtual Urgent Care for non-life-threatening symptoms such as fever, cough, upset stomach, or nausea. Learn more by visiting nyp.org/urgentcare.

            (nyp.org)

DeBlasio: Small Business Loan Program Will be Unable to Cover Demand

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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that his city's small-business loan program is going to run out of gas before the finish line. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

By: Howard Riell

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that his city’s small-business loan program is going to run out of gas before the finish line.

The program will be unable to cover demand immediately, he told reporters late last week. His office had previously unrolled a no-interest-loan program that dangled in front of small businesses with fewer than 100 employees as much as $75,000.

According to the mayor’s original promise, New York City would be sending funds to a first group of 400 companies by this coming Friday.

The grants, which aimed at helping New York City businesses with under five workers, were popular, with a reported 466 applicants. According to the mayor’s office, those applications are set to be put through the system by tomorrow.

According to the guidelines announced, local companies should get the monies they seek the very same day. The mayor said that the grants are designed to include as much as 40% of the company’s payroll.

Not surprisingly, firms in all five boroughs that were forced to close have reached out to the mayor’s office for financial help amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

Just before the weekend, the state said it would be pitching in by calling for a temporary end of tenant evictions. Leaders in Albany also said there would be no interest charges or penalties on late sales-tax payments.

At the same time that failed presidential candidate de Blasio has been offering a limited amount of help, he has been begging for assistance from the federal government he had formerly scorned. To ensure the City’s frontline healthcare workers are able to adequately treat COVID-19, the mayor has demanded the federal government replenish the City’s critical medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPEs).

“From the very beginning, New York City has been fighting COVID-19 with one hand tied behind our back,” said de Blasio. “We cannot leave our healthcare workers vulnerable, and we need the federal government to step up and give our frontline workers the tools they need to save lives all across our City.”

Citywide, there are 3,954 positive cases of COVID-19 and 26 fatalities. Currently there are 1,042 cases in Queens, 1,038 in Manhattan, 1,195 in Brooklyn, 496 in the Bronx, and 179 in Staten Island.

The Department of Citywide Administrative Services DCAS will implement an order today to direct agencies to have all employees who are not assigned to perform essential services to work from home. This will allow up to an estimated 250,000 city employees to telecommute. These employees may be called on to perform essential services as needed.

Every agency will take immediate steps to further determine and refine which services it provides that are essential. Essential services generally include responding to the COVID-19 emergency; lifesaving services; life-protecting services that relate to transportation, utility and other critical infrastructure; and workforce and internal service continuity.

NYC Bracing for Economic Hit; 500K Jobs Could be Lost to Pandemic

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New York City could be looking at shedding as many as 500,000 jobs due to the pandemic — and many in Gotham are bracing for the impact. Photo Credit: labor.ny.gov

By: Jerry Cashowitz

New York City could be looking at shedding as many as 500,000 jobs due to the pandemic — and many in Gotham are bracing for the impact.

The Big Apple has, of course, been hit harder than any other major metropolis in the United States. In fact, though numbers are growing quickly, it has been reported that New York City has 15,168 confirmed cases, up 4,812 since Saturday, and New Jersey has nearly 2,000 confirmed cases.

“With many more confirmed Covid-19 cases than anywhere else in the country, business activity all but grinding to a halt and all nonessential workers ordered to stay home, New York’s economy is bracing for a body blow of the magnitude no one has seen before,” reported Crain’s New York Business.

“In a normal downturn, economic activity contracts. But now economic activity is stopping,” Ronnie Lowenstein, director of the city’s Independent Budget Office, told Crain’s. “It’s a whole new world. A whole swath of people are being asked to sacrifice their jobs in the interest of public health.”

Current estimates indicated that up to a tenth of the city’s workforce, roughly half a million people, could soon find themselves without jobs.

Statistics put out by the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs show that 130,000 restaurant workers already find themselves without work.

Disappearing salaries among foodservice workers in New York City may well total $300 to $400 million in one month, Parrott said. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like that,” Parrott said. “The coronavirus crisis triggered the onset of a national recession whose trajectory is unknowable at this point.”

Restaurants across New York City “have already reported decreases in business so severe that they’ve had to let workers go, Patch.com said. “Emmanuel Kavalos, general manager of Kefi on the Upper West Side, has already been forced to lay off half of his staff. “That’s one of the more devastating things because they did nothing wrong.” Kavalos said. “It’s just the present situation.”

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo offered words of inspiration on Sunday, noting: “They talk about the greatest generation, the generation that survived World War II. Dealing with hardship actually makes you stronger. Life on the individual level, on the collective level, on the social level. Life is not about avoiding challenges. Challenges are going to come your way. Life is going to knock you on your rear end at one point. Something will happen. And then life becomes about overcoming those challenges. That’s what life is about. And that’s what this country is about.”

America is America, he continued, “because we overcome adversity and challenges. That’s how we were born. That’s what we’ve done all our life. We overcome challenges and this is a period of challenge for this generation. And that’s what has always made America great and that’s what going to make this generation great. I believe that to the bottom of my soul. We will overcome this and America will be the greater for it. And my hope is that New York is going to lead the way forward and together we will.”

LES’s Rivington House Could Become Treatment Facility for Coronavirus Patients

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The Mount Sinai Health System says Rivington House, a one-time HIV/AIDS nursing home in Manhattan, has been made available to serve as a temporary medical facility to treat Covid-19 patients. Photo Credit: YouTube

By: Howard Riell

The Mount Sinai Health System says Rivington House, a one-time HIV/AIDS nursing home in Manhattan, has been made available to serve as a temporary medical facility to treat Covid-19 patients.

The need for hospital beds in New York State is great. Indeed, both Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have been outspoken about that need, and have looked high and low for facilities that could be retrofitted to treat patients if the city’s hospitals are overrun with patients. Cuomo said earlier this week that New York State could require as many as 110,000 hospital beds, roughly double the number that exist at this moment.

“We are making sure that the city and state know about this facility and do with it whatever is best for us to all get through this,” said Dr. Jeremy Boal, president of Mount Sinai Beth Israel and the system’s downtown clinical operations just days ago.

“Mount Sinai is offering—and will continue to offer—any and all assistance possible to the city and state during this crisis, including repurposing and creatively using existing space and creating new space in anticipation of the increase in Covid-19 patients,” a Mount Sinai spokeswoman told Crain’s New York Business. “However, ultimately, it’s the city’s and state’s decision on what will be used and for which purpose.”

Until recently, Rivington House had operated as a specialty nursing home for patients with HIV/AIDS. The building featured in the media for the way city officials handled the sale of the property. In 2015, VillageCare and a small group of nursing home owners applied to lift the deed restriction on the building, allowing it to be transformed from an AIDS nursing home into a residential or commercial property. When the building was ultimately sold for $116 million, Mayor de Blasio drew criticism for straying from his policy to increase affordable housing in the city. It was eventually reclassified and sold to China Vanke Co., Adam America Real Estate, and Slate Property Group for residential development.

Mount Sinai Health System recently implemented extra precautions to provide the safest environment possible and protect our patients, staff and visitors due to the escalating COVID-19 emergency. According to officials, it has begun prohibiting all visitors across the Mount Sinai Health System, including visitors to the emergency departments, inpatients, ambulatory sites and other facilities. “Preventing avoidable exposure is critical to ensure that we can continue to respond to this public health crisis,” officials said in a release.

In January of 2018, the Jewish Voice reported that the Allure Group originally had purchased Rivington House in February of 2015 for $28 million, with promises that the facility would remain an operating nursing home. They then paid the Department of Citywide Administrative Services $16 million to adjust the deed on the facility. Prior to the decision to lift the deed restrictions on the nursing home by the city’s Department of Administrative Services, the site was limited to a not-for-profit residential health-care center.

Shortly after the purchase, the Allure Group, walked off with a $72 million pay day after they sold it to real estate developers for the purpose of building luxury condominiums at the site, The Jewish Voice reported in 2016.

The Wall Street journal reported that Joel Landau who is the public face of the Allure Group, contributed $4950 to the De Blasio campaign in 2013. It has also been reported in the Daily News that James Capalino, an influential lobbyist had placed pressure on the administration to lift the deed requirements in order for one of his clients to turn Rivington House into luxury condos. Capalino was instrumental in acquiring $50,000 in donations to Mayor De Blasio.

The mayor claimed he was misled by the company and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services changed the deed without consulting him.

Top NJ Health Official Says Everyone Will Get Coronavirus

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We are all going to get the Coronavirus, according to New Jersey’s Commissioner of Health Judith Persichilli. “I’m definitely going to get it. We all are,” she said in an interview with NJ.com. “I’m just waiting.” Photo Credit: State.nj.us

By: Hannah Samett

We are all going to get the Coronavirus, according to New Jersey’s Commissioner of Health Judith Persichilli.

“I’m definitely going to get it. We all are,” she said in an interview with NJ.com. “I’m just waiting.”

Speaking alongside the state’s governor, Phil Murphy, Persichilli pointed out that just-released CDC data demonstrates that risk for serious disease and death of COVID-19 among people in the US increases with age, not surprisingly. However, it also indicates severe illness leading to hospitalization, including intensive care unit admissions and death can occur in adults of any age.

“This data did reinforce that most of the serious outcomes occurred among adults 65 and older, with them having hospitalizations of about 45%, 53% ICU admissions, 80% of the deaths occurred among this population,” she said. “So this information is similar to what we’re seeing in China, indicating that more than 80% of deaths occurred among people 60 years and older. In contrast, individuals 19 and younger appear to have milder COVID-19 illness, with almost no hospitalizations or deaths. That’s 19 years and younger.”

In New Jersey, Persichilli noted, “we’re still examining the data and similar to the national trend, information on outcomes is somewhat limited at this time. The median age for our cases is a little bit younger, it’s 52. Of the 139 cases for which we have outcome data, nearly half of them have been hospitalized. So although the median age of our cases is younger than those in the highest risk category, we are still very much focused on those individuals 60 years and older.”

She said she has spoken repeatedly about “our concern for individuals who reside in long-term care facilities, especially our nursing homes. On March 6, I held a conference call with more than 400 facilities to discuss about the COVID-19 preparedness for this vulnerable population. Last week, we sent guidance requiring them to restrict all visitors and also screen all staff as they enter the facility, and all medical staff professionals, including physicians, physical therapists, hospice workers. They were to be screened and are being screened for respiratory virus symptoms, contact with COVID-19 cases, and travel to any of the impacted countries, or where community-based spread is occurring. We’ve also sent information to them on how to handle positive COVID-19 cases in long-term care settings.”

The department has identified positive cases of COVID-19 in six nursing home, assisted living facilities. The commissioner has ordered curtailing admissions, all admissions, to those facilities. “In addition, we are requiring them to use infection preventionists to assess their infection control practices, and they must conduct thorough cleaning not only daily, but frequently during the day. We checked the screening of all of their employees and every vendor that is dropping off or coming past the front doors of their facilities.”

FBI: Doc Says Neo-Nazis Wanted to Spread Coronavirus to Cops & Jews

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White supremacist racist organization Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members are seen during a rally in Madison, Indiana, United States on August 31, 2019. Photo Credit: Getty Images

By: Alex Gregorios

There is something about a physical disease that seems to bring out the worst in those with mental disease.

Case in point: with the Coronavirus pandemic raging, racist extremist groups — think neo-Nazis and various other white supremacists — are calling for their fellow cretins who come down with COVID-19 to give it to law enforcement officers and, of course, Jews.

The information comes from the FBI. ABC News made public an alert it received telling them that these extremist groups are encouraging one another to spread the potentially deadly virus via any means possible.

“The FBI alert, which went out on Thursday, told local police agencies that extremists want their followers to try to use spray bottles to spread bodily fluids to cops on the street. The extremists are also directing followers to spread the disease to Jews by going “any place they may be congregated, to include markets, political offices, businesses and places of worship,” reported Yahoo News.

“Anti-government folks in America love to target law enforcement as a symbol of America’s authority,” Don Mihalek, the executive vice president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation and an ABC News contributor, noted. “It’s just sad that that’s their focus at a time of crisis in the nation.”

Federal investigators ae said to have been monitoring communications among white supremacist organizations through Telegram, an encrypted messaging app that has become popular among underground extremist movements, according to dailymail.com. ‘Violent extremists continue to make bioterrorism a popular topic among themselves,’ according to an intelligence brief written by the Federal Protective Service.”

Last year, the FBI made 107 domestic terrorism arrests, on pace with the number of arrests it made for international terrorism, the organization said. Racism and hate-driven ideologies were the driving forces behind most of the ideologically motivated killings and violence in the US in 2018 and 2019, and were the most lethal of all domestic extremism movements over the last 20 years.

Just last month, FBI Director Christopher Wray gave testimony to the House Judiciary Committee that the problem of far-right domestic violent extremism has risen to a “national threat priority” and is now a “steady threat of violence and economic harm” to the United States. “The spate of attacks we saw in 2019 underscore the continued threat posed by domestic violent extremists and perpetrators of hate crimes. Such crimes are not limited to the United States and, with the aid of Internet like-minded hate groups, can reach across borders.”

Amazon Bans Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” Then Quickly Reinstates Them

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Cover of a 1943 edition of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf (Wikki commons)

By: Robert Kotkin

Late last week the online retail-giant Amazon banned the sale of most editions of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and other Nazi propaganda books after being pushed to do so for decades by leading Holocaust-education charities and Jewish groups, The Guardian reported, however the NTY Times reported Amazon quietly reinstated most sales of the infamous Nazi manifesto.

Amazon has almost 100% of the online book marketplace at this point. As the NY Times pointed out:” Amazon is under pressure to keep hate literature off its vast platform at a moment when extremist impulses seem on the rise”. At the same time the online giant does not want to be seen as a company that is against the 1st amendment or to be seen as “book burners”

The Ny Times reported: “Over the last 18 months, it has dropped books by Nazis, the Nation of Islam and the American neo-Nazis David Duke and George Lincoln Rockwell. But it has also allowed many equally offensive books to continue to be sold”

It seems that Amazon does not have a clear policy as to what kind of books can be sold on their site and what should be totally prohibited.

Amazon initially informed booksellers that they will no longer be permitted to sell a selection of Nazi-authored books on the website, including Hitler’s autobiography and children’s books that incite anti-Jewish sentiment. In one email sent by Amazon, those selling secondhand copies of Mein Kampf were told that “they can no longer offer this book” because it breaks the company’s code of conduct, JNS reported.

An Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement on Tuesday that the platform provides “customers with access to a variety of viewpoints” and noted that “all retailers make decisions about what selection they choose to offer”, the NY Times reported.

The NY Times reported: After disappearing for a few days, “Mein Kampf” is once again being sold directly by Amazon. But secondhand copies and those from third-party merchants appear to be still prohibited, a distinction that sellers said made no sense.

But on Amazon’s subsidiary AbeBooks, which operates largely independently, hundreds of new and used copies of “Mein Kampf” are available.

Certain Nazi favorites are already banned such as the infamous “ Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, a fabricated antisemitic book purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination, which every psychotic Nazi in the world quotes essentially as scripture. Amazon has also banned “The International Jew,” the anti-Semitic propaganda published by the automaker Henry Ford in the early 1920s.

Amazon clearly does not have a defined policy as to what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. It seems more of a policy that they will decide on a whim what is hate speech and what is tolerable to be sold on their giant website.

The entire subject raises many hotly debated topics of censorship, hate speech and looking at such writings and hoaxes like “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” from an educational and historical context. People who favor banning hateful books have a seriously valid point, as do those who look at these books as history and can be used to learn lessons and educate. Do we ban Nazi literature to prevent future maniacs or do we allow everyone in plain site to see the hate and look at it, dissect it and learn from it?

NYC Public Schools Scramble to Begin Online Learning

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A student learns on a tablet (Getty images)

By: Robert Kotkin

When it was announced that NYC public schools will be closed until the end of April and now most likely the rest of the school year, the BOE had to scramble to set up this complex system

The new normal of remote learning has been set in place for the city’s more than 1 million public school students and their teachers during the coronavirus pandemic Classrooms are now via computers as the new remote policy went into effect on Monday, a week after closures due to the increase of virus cases citywide.

Training for about 80,000 teachers in the nation’s largest school system began Tuesday in preparation for internet-based lessons slated to start on Monday for most students, according to city Education Department officials as reported by the WSJ.

The city’s goal is to show public-school educators how to transform their curricula into virtual lessons and deliver them to students, city schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said in a news briefing Monday. He warned the task wouldn’t be easy.

“We have a vast array of educators that are prepared on different levels,” in terms of their understanding of remote learning, he said at the briefing. Delivering online classes for so many students, he said, is “just something you cannot do virtually right out of the gate”, Carranza told the press.

The WSJ also reported: many students require special lessons and others may have trouble accessing remote lessons from home without devices provided by the city, said Noliwe Rooks, director of American Studies at Cornell University.

“So while we have to implement online learning, given what’s going on, we need to be figuring out how to actually support those vulnerable students, or we’re going to end up with an academic kind of crisis.”

WSJ stated: School officials will begin to address some of those challenges by distributing 30,000 iPads to students who require them for remote lessons starting Thursday. Eventually, the city will provide 300,000 such tablets, according to Mr. Carranza, who said the city is also working to provide free internet service to students who need it.

This is a very complex process. Not all teachers are comfortable with this. As Rooks stated this can be an educational disaster for the most vulnerable students such as special needs children. This is a tall task and indeed a scramble, as by press online learning will have begun in NYC.

NYC has perhaps the most diverse student base in the country.

One must wonder if the teacher’s union who pushed for the schools to be closed as soon as possible regret it now, as this process will be more work than traditional teaching.

Teacher Jacob Stebel says he was depressed when he was told to develop a virtual learning plan for his high school students at the Cinema School in the Bronx. But now he says he’s optimistic after his first day of classes on Google Meet. Department of Education Chancellor Richard Carranza says that during this transition his best advice is flexibility and patience, News 12 reported.

Christian Friends of Israel Rally to Help Jewish State Fight Coronavirus

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The number of individuals in Israel diagnosed with the COVID-19 coronavirus rises daily, and pro-Israel Christian organizations have joined the struggle to help contend with the pandemic in the Jewish state. Photo by Kobi Richter/TPS on 23 March, 2020

By: TPS Staff

The number of individuals in Israel diagnosed with the COVID-19 coronavirus rises daily, and pro-Israel Christian organizations have joined the struggle to help contend with the pandemic in the Jewish state.

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) has decided to lend a hand in Israel’s fight against the pandemic and approved over the weekend $2 million in special grants to 15 hospitals for respiratory equipment and other lifesaving machinery.

Additionally, The IFCJ purchased 20 special testing devices for Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s emergency medical response organization. The devices will help the staff test patients and reduce the burden on hospitals, preventing unnecessary contact between Coronavirus patients and their surroundings.

The organization says that it has received dozens of requests over the past week from hospitals finding it difficult to manage without some of the required medical equipment. The IFCJ has expedited grant approvals and the hospitals have already begun the procurement process.

The IFCJ has put emphasis is prioritizing hospitals in Israel’s periphery which are at increased risk of collapse in the event of a Coronavirus patient overload.

The assistance to hospitals is part of a $5 million emergency fund that the Fellowship announced earlier this month. The fund also provides basic needs to the elderly who are more vulnerable to the Coronavirus than other age groups.

In support of this effort, the Fellowship started a fundraising campaign, mobilizing thousands of its donors from around the world to raise money for Israelis in need as they cope with the pandemic.

Yael Eckstein, President and CEO of the IFCJ, said that “Israel is dealing with an emergency like it has never known, and we are all committed to enlisting and assisting the medical teams that are at the forefront in this struggle. This is an urgent need, and we will go above and beyond in order to help in every way possible.”

Similarly, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) is helping to care for elderly Israelis confined to the homes, including hundreds of Holocaust survivors. “While the government’s measures to fight the Coronavirus is impacting the whole country, I am glad we are still able to help Israel pull through this crisis in a number of ways,” said ICEJ President Dr. Jürgen Bühler.

The ICEJ has seven Christian staff and volunteers in Haifa who have been helping to pack and deliver food boxes to hundreds of senior citizens in the city who are confined to their homes as a health precaution.

The ICEJ team also was specially tasked with providing food and daily care, including medical checks, for the 70 residents at its Haifa Home for Holocaust survivors, who must stay in their rooms as well.

In addition, ICEJ staff in Jerusalem packed and delivered food boxes this past week to a number of elderly and disabled Israelis who are regularly cared for by its team of nurses.

This coming week, the Christian Embassy will have staff working with the Israeli charities Latet and Ezrat Avot to pack and deliver food boxes to the front doors of hundreds of Israeli senior citizens who must remain in their homes to avoid the virus.

“We are working within the rules set by the Health Ministry to help Israelis as much as we can in this troubling time confronting the whole world,” said Dr. Bühler. “We know it is in difficult moments like these when our efforts to bless and comfort Israel count the most.”

(TPS)

Ministry of Health Launches App to Curb Spread of Coronavirus

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Israel’s Ministry of Health has announced the launch of a new phone app to curb the further spread of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19). Photo by Kobi Richter/TPS on 22 November, 2017

By: Benjamin Brown

Israel’s Ministry of Health has announced the launch of a new phone app to curb the further spread of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19).

Named “HaMagen” (The Shield), the app tracks users’ locations to establish whether an individual has come into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.

The app utilizes information on users’ movement of the past 14 days, the incubation period for Coronavirus, while the Ministry of Health feeds epidemiological findings and data of confirmed patients into the system.

Developed in Israel, the application can be downloaded for all common mobile operating systems free of charge.

Modern technology is being used in a number of different ways to address the threat of the virus, with the Weizmann Insitute of Science developing a Big Data-based system of predicting where major Coronavirus outbreaks are likely to occur.

Over 1,200 Israelis have tested positive for Covid-19 in Israel. An 88-year-old Holocaust survivor was the first person to die, passing away on Saturday.

Israel on Saturday night introduced the final draft of stringent directives limiting public interactions to curb the spread of the virus. An emphasis was put on penalties for breaching the directives, which included fines and prison sentences.

Minister of Transportation Bezalel Smotrich and Deputy Minister of Finance Yitzchak Chen entered quarantine on Saturday night after being notified that they had separately met with a person who was diagnosed with Corona.

An employee at the Israeli Consulate General in New York was diagnosed on Saturday with Corona. He is at home in isolation in good condition. Israeli Consul General Danny Dayan went into quarantine following his exposure to the employee.

Several days ago, TPS reported that with the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) spreading globally and the world longing for medical solutions to the pandemic, all eyes are on labs in Europe, China, the US, and Israel, currently in the process of developing vaccines for Covid-19.

One medical innovation that may not be able to single-handedly end the pandemic but is expected to succeed in slowing the virus’ spread, is protective clothing, most notably masks, manufactured by Israeli medical company Sonovia.

Sonovia specializes in using anti-microbial textiles to prevent patients and employees at hospitals from contracting diseases. Dr. Jason Migdal, a researcher with Sonovia, told TPS that there were “dramatic reductions in hospital infections when our products were used.”

“Cutting-edge nano-coating technology” originally developed at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan allows the company to use sound waves to place chemicals and materials such as copper into textiles, thus ensuring long-term protection against bacteria.

Dr. Migdal says he and his team are “leading the revolution in this field,” with the materials produced by Sonovia “stronger than antibiotics and even working against bacteria resistant to antibiotics.”

As the number of Covid-19 cases grew, research showed that certain materials, including the copper nano-particles used in Sonovia’s materials, were able to kill off the virus.

            (TPS)

PA Releases Inmates from Prison over Corona Concerns

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The Palestinian Authority (PA) has decided to grant pardons to prison inmates who have served at least half of their sentences as a step in protecting their safety during the Coronavirus crisis. Photo by Majdi Fathi/TPS on 23 March, 2020

By: Baruch Yedid

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has decided to grant pardons to prison inmates who have served at least half of their sentences as a step in protecting their safety during the Coronavirus crisis. PA President Mahmoud Abbas last night signed an order on the matter.

Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Monday that in light of the risks of the spread of the Coronavirus, Abbas had decided to grant special pardon to criminal prisoners. Victims were told they would be able to appeal in a civil lawsuit.

The decision does not apply to those convicted of serious crimes, Abu Rudeineh said. At this time, the number of prisoners set to be pardoned is unknown.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya has appealed to Saudi Arabia to release dozens of Hamas detainees in prisons and those recently sentenced to imprisonment for membership in the terrorist organization.

Hamas recently released 520 prisoners on bail and 87 other prisoners fully as the Gaza Strip prepares for a major outbreak of Covid-19. Hamas has prohibited remaining prisoners from receiving visitors, and instead allowing phone calls with family members.

The first two cases of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) in the Gaza Strip were announced by Gazan health officials Sunday morning. The two patients had returned to Gaza from a trip to Pakistan, entering the Strip through the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

TPS has learned that the patients are in their 30s and 40s and work as NGO staffers at the Al-Sahaba Medical Center in Gaza City.

With its high population density and poor access to medical facilities, the Coronavirus is expected to spread rapidly in Gaza.

The PA has seen 57 confirmed cases of Coronavirus, the majority of them in the Bethlehem area. On Sunday, PA Minister Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh announced a lockdown of PA-governed areas.

In a related development, TPS reported that health officials in the Gaza Strip announced on Monday that Gazan medical centers would cease performing non-emergency operations and prohibit visits to hospital amid fear of a largescale outbreak of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) in Gaza.

The measures are intended to prevent a large-scale outbreak in the Gaza Strip, following the discovery of two infections on Sunday.

While Hamas is trying to reassure Gaza residents that the situation is under control and civilian and security officials are taking the required steps, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Gaza Strip is not prepared for the outbreak.

A Hamas health spokesman announced that the two Pakistani contractors who tested positive for Covid-19 after returning from Pakistan, did not come into contact with Gazan residents, and that 29 people who came in contact with them had now gone into isolation.

The Hamas government published a list of actions it was undertaking in its media outlets, aimed at reassuring the public. Content included images from the isolation facility in Rafah, at the border crossing to Egypt, where 300 workers remain employed.

At present, at least 1,200 residents are in isolation in the various centers across the Gaza Strip and over 2,000 are staying in home isolation. As a measure of control, Tawfiq Abu Naim, who is in charge of the security forces in the Gaza Strip and his deputy, also entered quarantine.

             (TPS)

Rivlin Speaks with King of Spain as Coronavirus Claims Hundreds of Lives Each Day

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Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin spoke on Sunday with King Felipe VI of Spain following the global spread of Coronavirus and the hundreds of fatalities from the virus reported daily in Spain. Photo by Kobi Richter/TPS on 23 March, 2020

By: Aryeh Savir

Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin spoke on Sunday with King Felipe VI of Spain following the global spread of Coronavirus and the hundreds of fatalities from the virus reported daily in Spain.

Spain is one of the European counties to be hit hardest by the virus. It has registered some 30,000 cases, with at least 1,813 deaths.

Rivlin told King Felipe that “the Israeli public identifies with the Spanish people as they deal with the virus” and spoke about the demonstrations of solidarity in Israel with their Spanish twin cities, Tel Aviv and Tiberias.

The Tel Aviv Municipality lit up its façade with the colors of the Spanish flag last week “in support of our friends in Spain, bravely handling the Coronavirus crisis.”

He thanked the king “for the cooperation with the authorities” at Spanish airports in recent days, which have become a transit point for many Israelis returning home from South and Central America amid a general shutdown of borders around the world.

The two “enjoyed a good, warm and constructive conversation,” Rivlin’s office stated.

“The two leaders expressed messages of deep solidarity and reiterated the close relations and the support which brings the two peoples together,” the statement said.

In addition, Rivlin spoke with Armenia’s President Armen Sarkissian and discussed possible cooperation and exchange of information regarding how the health systems in both countries are dealing with the virus.

Sarkissian thanked Rivlin and said that his country would be happy to receive information about how Israel is dealing with and limiting the spread of the disease.

He added that this is a battle that international leaders must fight together. Following the request of the Armenian president, the health ministries of both countries held follow-up conversations regarding information exchanges about dealing with the virus.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been leading an international effort to collaborate and share information on the fight against Corona.

In the meantime, the Director-General of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yuval Rotem Tweeted that “at such a difficult and challenging time in Italy, as we see and hear about tragedies and human bravery, I can only say this: Italy – you are in our hearts! We will overcome this together!”

Last week, the Tel Aviv Municipality, the Petah Tikva Municipality and Jerusalem’s Old City walls were lit up with the Italian colors of red green and white.

“Todà Rabà, Israel, for your closeness, solidarity & support in such challenging times!” the Italian embassy in Israel responded.

            (TPS)

Israel Ranks 14th in World Happiness Report, Tel Aviv 8th Happiest City

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Last year, Tel Aviv was ranked as the best city in the Middle East and the 21st best in the world by Time Out Magazine. Photo by Kobi Richter/TPS on 12 March, 2017

By: TPS Staff

Israel has been ranked 14th happiest country in the world in this year’s edition of the United Nations (UN) World Happiness Report while Tel Aviv was declared the 8th happiest city in the world.

Measuring subjective happiness around the world for the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), Israelis were said to be the 14th happiest people after Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, Austria, Luxembourg, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

The ranking was based on polls conducted with residents of each country, with the surveys then split into categories including GDP, life expectancy, social support and freedom of choice.

The “World Happiness Report” is a survey of 153 countries about the state of global happiness. The report is released for the UN’s World Happiness Day.

Consisting mainly of European countries, the top 20 was complemented by Costa Rica, Ireland, Germany, the US, the Czech Republic, and Belgium.

The Top 20 remained unchanged from last year’s ranking, although Israel fell from 11th to 14th place.

The report’s 10 least happy countries included Afghanistan, South Sudan and Zimbabwe.

Tel Aviv was listed as the world’s 8th best city in “Subjective Well Being” with Jerusalem coming in at 33rd. Both ranked above cities such as London, Dubai, Paris, and Singapore.

Last year, Tel Aviv was ranked as the best city in the Middle East and the 21st best in the world by Time Out Magazine.

The magazine surveyed 34,000 city-dwellers to rank the best cities in the world and presented a list of its 48 best cities in the world for 2019.

The cities were graded for their “food, drink, culture, nightlife, community, neighborhoods, overall happiness and other factors, such as their city’s beauty, affordability and convenience.”

“Welcome to the city that never stops. Tel Aviv – the contemporary hub of Israel, the cultural capital, a culinary mecca and a beach bliss,” Time Out writes.

(TPS)

Police Enforce Corona Regulations in Ultra-Orthodox Communities in J’slm

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Three people were arrested and fined as clashes erupted in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood on Sunday amid an effort by police to enforce the government’s regulations to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19). Photo by Hillel Maeir/TPS on 15 September, 2016

By: TPS

Three people were arrested and fined as clashes erupted in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood on Sunday amid an effort by police to enforce the government’s regulations to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19).

The police crackdown came after reports emerged that several businesses and large numbers of residents were not abiding by the Ministry of Health’s rules on limiting physical interaction. With schools refusing to close, large weddings and gatherings taking place, and many shops open as usual, Mea Shearim was feared to become a hotspot for the further spread of the virus.

Crowds clashed with police, throwing stones and denouncing officers as Nazis. Individual policemen wore protective masks, while the vast majority of officers and rioters were unprotected.

The three people arrested were charged with violently disrupting a demonstration and disturbing the public order. They were additionally fined NIS 5,000 ($1,380) for disobeying the government’s Corona regulations, local media reported.

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, himself Haredi, had called upon the ultra-Orthodox communities to follow the government’s regulations to help stop the spread of the virus.

The number of Corona patients in Israel rose to 1,238 on Monday morning, of which 24 are in serious condition and 34 are in moderate condition. Some are being treated with experimental medications.

Some 40 patients have recovered while about 75,000 Israelis are in a 14-day quarantine.

The government has been working to significantly boost the number of Corona tests carried out on a daily basis, and some 5,300 Israelis were tested in the past 24 hours.

The novel Coronavirus COVID-19 is affecting 192 countries around the world.

At least 353,000 cases of Coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide, including at least 15,300 deaths. Some 100,000 have recovered.

(TPS)

Shame on Benny Gantz!

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Benny Gantz, however, in his attempt to gain power has reached out to the Joint List (JL), a group of terrorist supporting Arab parties to join him in his attempts to rule the Knesset. We should all be concerned. There is very little desire the JL has for the survival of Israel. They want it gone! Photo Credit: Wikipedia.com

There is no other people on the face of this earth who should be more concerned and therefore, more tuned in to their survival than we Jews. Over countless centuries we have faced extermination and, luckily combined with the grace of G-d, we live on….barely. How long can we keep rolling the dice in this chancy game? Our Israeli cousins, with their indecisiveness in choosing a leader have thrown the black dotted ivory cubes against the wall, once again daunting fate and risking their very existence. In the recent unprecedented third election in just the past year, they have created political chaos in the nation by their indecision in supporting their current Prime Minister Netanyahu, who since his assuming the role of Prime Minister for the second time, in 2009, has led Israel boldly to its current position as a world leader in commerce, diplomacy with its Arab neighbors and in its successful fight for survival.

Combine this human common sense failure with the sweeping medical turmoil of the deadly Corona virus and we must come to the conclusion that the Jewish nation’s future is in peril. Throw in as well, the stupidity of the vast majority American Jews who choose to align themselves politically with the Progressives who openly have as their goal, the destruction of Israel and the problem becomes evident that our future is in doubt.

Israel and the United States, two of the world’s greatest democracies, also house most of the world’s Jewish population. Israel is a Jewish state and it must remain so. However, with Netanyahu not having garnered a majority in the most recent election, is apparently willing to compromise and share his leadership role with Benny Gantz who heads the minority Blue and White Party, thus forming a coalition government. Gantz, however, in his attempt to gain power has reached out to the Joint List (JL), a group of terrorist supporting Arab parties to join him in his attempts to rule the Knesset. We should all be concerned. There is very little desire the JL has for the survival of Israel. They want it gone! They basically represent the Palestinian Authority in the Knesset and will vote accordingly thus demanding an immediate two state solution, the right of return and the sharing of Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian nation. Any coalition having them as partners will doom the Jewish state.

Jews in the United States, for their part, have also gone suicidal by remaining silent in the face of growing anti-Jewish/Israel hatred within Congress, in the press and in our halls of ivy. We have never seen such dangerous, overt behavior in our lifetimes. Why do our Jewish and citizens not see the danger to our survival now growing in our midst? Why do they not speak out? We are faced now with two threats; the Corona virus which menaces all of humankind and open Jew/Israel hating. The latter threat must be handled by us. We must wake up, speak up and act up boldly to prevent our annihilation. silence on our part will destroy us.

Has China Been Criminally Negligent?

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On December 31, the last day of 2019, China announced the outbreak of a mysterious pneumonia like illness. Reports now indicate the Chinese were lying, dangerously so, to the world. Photo Caption–XIAOLU CHU/GETTY IMAGES

OK, we’ll come right out and say it: “China has been criminally negligent in its initial silence in reporting to the rest of the world the outbreak of the COVID -19 virus that originated in its own city of Wuhan.” No, we’re not being xenophobic. But leave it to the likes of cnn.com to claim that bigotry against China is worse than the disease it permitted to spread world-wide. “What’s spreading faster than coronavirus in the US? Racist assaults and ignorant attacks against Asians,” it blared on its site. The media’s goal is to deflect blame away from the culprit and blame the victim, in this case those who may become afflicted with this disease and want an answer to how it originated and how it was permitted to spread for months before China spoke out.

On December 31, the last day of 2019, China announced the outbreak of a mysterious pneumonia like illness. Reports now indicate the Chinese were lying, dangerously so, to the world. The disease flared up weeks or months sooner than they claimed. The virus was already spreading among its own people, beyond the borders of Wuhan while they remained silent. They censored information and muffled and incriminated whistle-blowers who tried to sound the alarm.

Dr. Daniel Lucey, a professor of infectious diseases at Georgetown University Medical Centers claims that the virus could have been moving through Wuhan as early as October. The deadly virus was given a 3 months head start by the criminal leaders of China. China is a signer-on to the International Health Regulations which obligates nations to report public health events such as disease outbreaks in order to prevent a pandemic such as the COVID-19 one emanating from….China. They failed to follow regulations and now can and should be held responsible for the tens of thousands of cases panicking the globe and the many innumerable deaths to follow.

Throw into this gory tale, the fact that China’s one and only military biological warfare lab is located in Wuhan. Could there have been an “accident?” Add in that their leaders don’t give one damn about the lives of their citizens. The Washington Post reported on 11/30/2016 that between 30 and 60 million “missing girls” in China were apparently killed in the womb or just after birth thanks to a combination of preference for sons and the country’s decades old repressive one child policy. A nation with over 1.4 billion people, run by a dictatorship that seems to have very few human values will merely shrug their shoulders at a killer virus that may disable a world they hope to eventually dominate and rule even at the expense of its own people. And that’s not an xenophobic statement, that’s the truth, like it or not.