Starting last week, more than 3000 free meals are handed out three times every day to senior citizens over the age of 65 who are quarantined at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Airports of Regions holding company (AR)—of which Renova, owned by Jewish businessman and philanthropist Viktor Vekselberg, is a major shareholder — is preparing the meals. The campaign is set to last at least until the end of April.
The meal sets are prepared on a daily basis by catering services based in Koltsovo (Yekaterinburg), Kurumoch (Samara), Strigino (Nizhny Novgorod) and Platov (Rostov-on-Don) airports. Secluded and isolated under mandatory home quarantine, members of this population group need help more than anyone else, especially since they do not have close relatives who can support them at this time. Meal sets prepared by the airport catering services are a significant contribution in the effort to provide senior citizens in need with nutritious hot meals.
Despite the economic downturn that is hitting the aviation industry and airports in particular, AR is attempting to do its part to help in the public’s efforts to cope with and eventually overcome the pandemic. This initiative is largely driven by a desire to help the most vulnerable population group. AR is cooperating with associations of volunteers as well as with social protection services who are able to identify specific recipients and assume responsibility for delivering the food packages.
Viktor Vekselberg, Chairman of the board of directors of Renova Group, points out that in the situation, where the coronavirus pandemic turns out to be the most serious challenge that the humankind has faced in the 21st century, all must join forces to save human lives – governments, businesses, and public institutions.
The Renova Group is also going to provide many regions in the Russian Federation with more than 50,000 reagent kits to speedily conduct COVID-19 tests designed by the Russian company, Evotech Mirai Genomics (EMG). Beginning this week, the EMG’s reagents will be manufactured at the Sigma Lab facilities in the Skolkovo Technopark’s Common Use Center.
In an attempt by authorities in Russia to contain the coronavirus and protect seniors, citizens above the age of 65 in most regions have been obligated to remain in quarantine from the end of March until May at their respective places of residence or in other facilities like residential buildings and summer houses. Social protection services have been tasked with supporting elderly citizens with the purchasing of medicines and food.
With the outbreak of the coronavirus, so many of the things we’re used to doing have been put on hold. But for an organization whose very mission is to facilitate aliyah and protect and connect the Jewish people around the world, shutting down until this pandemic subsides is simply not an option. Particularly with Passover fast approaching.
For years, The Jewish Agency has been ensuring that the Jewish communities awaiting Aliyah in Gondar and Addis Ababa have had the provisions they need to celebrate the Passover holiday properly. Up until now, that meant – among other things – supervising the baking of the essential unleavened bread locally. With coronavirus restrictions in place, however, that was going to be impossible this year, so “Plan B” went into effect and half a ton of the stuff was shipped out in time for the Seder.
But this year, circumstances were such that The Jewish Agency was also called upon to provide out-of-the-ordinary pre-Passover emergency assistance, both to prevent introduction of Covid-19 into the local community and to offer succor, in particular, to the older, at-risk demographic. That request was met, among other ways, with 57,600 bars of soap and 78,000 meals.
As gratifying as it is to be able to meet these needs of the Jewish community in Ethiopia, even more to the Jewish Agency’s liking is the opportunity it has had over the past several weeks to facilitate the aliyah of 115 of its members. After so many years of longing, those who have just arrived will finally be celebrating Passover with their prayer for “next year in Jerusalem” answered.
Here are a few of their stories:
After waiting in Gondar for nearly 12 years for permission to make aliyah, Asmare Kasahun Desta finally arrived in Israel on March 24, together with his wife and six children. It was an extraordinarily emotional moment for him, but one also tempered by the circumstances. As is the case with all new immigrants coming during the coronavirus pandemic, his family and the 64 other members of the Ethiopian Jewish community who arrived with them were immediately quarantined in a dedicated absorption facility, meaning it would be another two weeks before he’d at last get to see his ailing 82-year old mother whom he hadn’t seen since she was allowed to make aliyah more than a decade ago.
Mituku, one of Asmare’s five siblings who has been in Israel since 2008, told me this week that “My brother is so very, very happy to be here and so thankful,” and is now anxiously awaiting the reunion. “We still have three sisters and another brother in Ethiopia,” he explained, “and our mother cries every day over our family being separated like this. She’s very sick and wants only to live long enough to see us all together again. She prays for that every day.”
It’s a prayer that touches me profoundly. I care deeply about bringing home all those still longing for Zion, but it is the Kasahun family that personalizes for me the predicament of the entire community. Just over a year ago, I was in Ethiopia on behalf of the Jewish Agency and by chance visited Asmare in his home, a single-room, dirt-floor, mud-made hovel with no running water or electricity, typical to that of all his neighbors. At the time, he showed me pictures of his parents and siblings who were already in Israel and beseeched me to do everything and anything I could to unite them all – an assignment still pending.
Another of the new olim is Degarge Demlie, 35, who, after 11 years of waiting, arrived here last month with his wife, Workie, and their two young children. A mechanic by training, Degarge was also a prominent member of the community’s governing council in Gondar, serving as its secretary, and involved for years in promoting its members’ interests.
Long separated from his parents and five siblings who were brought home years ago, he is thrilled to be reunited with them. But his happy ending, too, is marred by a phenomenon far too common to be ignored. Now it is Workie who is separated from her mother and five siblings, as they are still in Ethiopia awaiting notification of their turn to come.
Amsalu Ayenew is one more of the new immigrants. While Degarge was involved in the organizational life of the community, he was deeply engaged in its spiritual side. Only 22, Amsalu’s entire life has been one of waiting, but also one imbued with a mission. Prior to his aliyah, he served as both a cantor for the Gondar synagogue and a Jewish studies teacher. He grew up under the tutelage of Rabbi Menachem Waldman, who has dedicated more than 30 years to the well-being of the community, forever traveling back and forth between Ethiopia and his home in Haifa, often twice a month.
Amsalu is one of his protégés, a group of some 40 promising young leaders, men and women, whom he has cultivated among the younger generation in both Gondar and the capital, Addis Ababa, providing them with high-level Judaica courses, Hebrew language instruction, and preparation for life in Israel – taught both by himself and an ongoing succession of volunteer teachers he organizes.
Now, Amsalu, after leading his congregation a thousand times and more in the singing of Hatikvah, with which every service in Gondar concludes, his “hope never lost” has been rewarded with his being brought to Israel together with his mother and five brothers and sisters, joyfully reunited with his grandparents and nine aunts and uncles who were permitted to make aliyah a decade ago. He is, of course, elated to be here, but similarly, not without a twinge of regret. His father died two years ago in Gondar, his lifelong dream of settling in the Land of Israel unfulfilled.
For many involved, the as yet to be resolved conundrum of relatives being separated is particularly vexing. It is against this background that a distinguished council of kessim (spiritual leaders of the Ethiopian Jewish community) and eminent Orthodox rabbis published yet another declaration in mid-March attesting to the Jewish lineage of the community. Referencing the fundamental responsibility that all Jews bear for one another, the document calls for expediting their aliyah – especially in light of the coronavirus that poses particular dangers for this vulnerable population.
Until their call is heeded, and the several thousand still in limbo join us, there is every reason to celebrate the influx of the 115 who have just arrived, the 602 who preceded them in 2019, and the 153 expected within the next couple of weeks. The chronicle of their years of waiting is heartbreaking; the story of their homecoming inspirational.
May the strong hand and outstretched arm of the State of Israel now speedily embrace those who will again be concluding their Seder with a heartfelt intonation of “Next year in Jerusalem.” As the rest of us will most probably be celebrating the holiday with too many empty chairs around the table in any case, might I suggest that you symbolically invite one of them to join you. In commemorating one exodus during this Festival of Freedom, let us not forget that there is another yet in progress.
The writer serves as deputy chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive. The opinions expressed herein are his own.
A lot of people refer to the coronavirus as the “bug.” The more correct phrase would be “bugs.” At present, health officials say, there are at least eight strains of the coronavirus wreaking havoc across the world. Photo Credit: AP
NEW YORK NOTES from Cuomo Briefing
New York broke its record for the highest single-day coronavirus death toll for the second consecutive day. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced 779 New Yorkers died of coronavirus yesterday, bringing the state’s total death toll to 6,268.
New York’s coronavirus death toll of 6.268 is more than double the death toll from the September 11 attacks.
Cuomo acknowledged that the state’s death toll may be understating the number of coronavirus victims because some people have been dying at home.“I think that’s a very real possibility,” Cuomo said of a potential under-count.The governor said the state is looking at other models to try to incorporate data about at-home deaths because most data points currently come from hospitals.
The governor directed that all flags in New York State be flown at half-staff.
Mr. Cuomo said hospitalization figures continued to show the curve of infection flattening in the state. The number of virus patients in hospitals increased 3 percent since Tuesday, in contrast with the typical 25 percent increases of weeks past.
Some hospitals are releasing more patients than they are admitting.
“Social distancing is working,” Cuomo said. “It is flattening the curve.”
“That death toll probably will be this high, or near this high or even higher for the next several days,” Mr. Cuomo said. But he added, “We are flattening the curve, thank God, thank God, thank God.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state is examining why Latinx and African American New Yorkers are dying of coronavirus at a disproportionately high rate.
Cuomo noted that many essential workers who cannot work remotely are people of color, putting them at a higher risk of contracting the virus.
Cuomo pledged to do more coronavirus testing in communities of color to help track the spread of the virus.
Cuomo was asked whether he would reduce essential services like grocery stores and public transportation as the death toll rsies. “I don’t think we can reduce the essential services,” Cuomo said, arguing it’s impossible to tell people to “eat less” or use fewer prescriptions.
Cuomo quickly blew off a question from a reporter about Dr. Cameron Kyle-Sidell, who claims that Covid-19 is an oxygen deprivation syndrome as opposed to ARDS, which the Jewish Voice made go viral
QUOTE from Cuomo
“The number of deaths, as a matter of fact, will continue to rise as those hospitalized for a longer period of time pass away,” he explained, calling the bad news of the day “not just bad but terrible.”
“I understand the science of it,” he said. “I understand the facts and the logic of it. But it is still incredibly difficult to deal with.”
NATIONAL NOTES
At least 1,939 Americans died of coronavirus yesterday. That is the largest single-day death toll reported by any country since the pandemic began, Guardian reported Overall, nearly 13,000 Americans have died of coronavirus, and health experts have warned this could be the worst week yet for the death toll.
US intelligence officials were warning of a virus sweeping through the Wuhan region of China as early as November, according to an ABC News report
Trump said he believed the coronavirus crisis would end “sooner rather than later,” as experts express cautious optimism about the effects social distancing has had on the number of cases. “Once we OPEN UP OUR GREAT COUNTRY, and it will be sooner rather than later, the horror of the Invisible Enemy, except for those that sadly lost a family member or friend, must be quickly forgotten,” Trump wrote in a tweet. “Our Economy will BOOM, perhaps like never before!!!”
Louisiana has the fourth largest number of Covid-19 cases in the country, and the majority of the Covid-19 deaths are in New Orleans, where black Americans constitute 60% of the population. “Slightly more than 70% of [coronavirus] deaths in Louisiana are African Americans,” the state’s governor, John Bel Edwards, said in a press conference on Monday. “That deserves more attention and we’re going to have to dig into that to see what we can do to slow that down.”
African Americans face a higher risk of exposure to the virus, mostly on account of concentrating in urban areas and working in essential industries. Only 20% of black workers reported being eligible to work from home, compared with about 30% of their white counterparts, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Experts also point to initial research showing a high prevalence of Covid-19 among those suffering from obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes – risk factors more common among black Americans. The virus is known to take a harsher toll on those with underlying health issues, and many hospitals are only testing those admitted for critical care, Washington Post explained
A commonly cited model of the US coronavirus crisis now predicts that 60,000 Americans will die of the virus by early August, marking a significant decrease from past projections, Reuters sited.
“The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation model is one of several that the White House task force has cited. It now projects U.S. deaths at more than 60,000 by Aug. 4, down from the nearly 82,000 fatalities it had forecast on Tuesday. The White House coronavirus task force has previously projected 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could die. The institute also moved up its projected peak in the number to U.S. deaths to this Sunday, when it predicted 2,212 people will succumb to the disease. The revision moves forward the projected peak by four days, suggesting the strain on the country’s healthcare system will begin to abate a little sooner than previously expected.”
Dr Anthony Facui predicted schools would be able to reopen in the fall, as early evidence indicates that social distancing is having a positive effect on the country’s number of coronavirus cases. “Bottom line is, no absolute prediction, but I think we’re going to be in good shape,” Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said during the White House briefing yesterday.
Elizabeth, NJ is using a talking drone following people who are violating social distancing. The city said Tuesday it has started using a fleet of five drones with voice and siren capabilities, on loan from manufacturer DJI, to patrol public areas and warn violators, NBC reported
A California sheriff warned that people could be fined $1,000 and even jailed for not covering their faces in public. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco announced the tougher measures after the department lost two deputies to Covid-19.
Several restaurants and small businesses in the South Bay say they have recently been targeted by thieves trying to take advantage of the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order. “They walked out with kind of the heart of the restaurant as far as the financial aspect of it. It’s your monetary income,” said Dan Holder, owner of Jack Holder’s Restaurant and Bar in San Jose’s Cambrian neighborhood, CBS reported.
Dr. Fauci suggested, when a vaccine is developed that must then be included on the required list of shots for all children to attend school, Washington Times pointed out
GLOBAL NOTES
At least 83,615 people have now died worldwide, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. They say at least 1.4 million people have been infected, more than 300,000 of whom have recovered
The UK suffered its deadliest day since the outbreak began as official figures showed 938 more people had died in hospitals, taking the overall total to 7,097. The true death toll is likely to be significantly higher.
Italy recorded 542 new deaths, but the rate has slowed slightly. The number of infected people increased by 1,195, or 1.3%. There was also a record day-to-day increase – 2,099 – in the number of people who have survived.
The state of emergency in Peru has been extended for two more weeks to 26 April, the country’s president Martín Vizcarra has said. He announced the extension, which includes a nationwide quarantine in the world’s second largest copper producer, as it reached 2,954 confirmed cases of the virus and 107 deaths. The first confirmed case in Peru was on 6 March.
France is to extend its national lockdown for a second time, meaning it will run beyond 15 April, the country’s presidential palace has said. It had earlier said the president of the republic, Emmanuel Macron, will address the nation regarding next Monday evening.
The number of people who have died in French hospitals has climbed by 8% in a day to at least 7,632, local authorities have said. Confirmed cases: 82,048 (+3,881) Number in hospital: 30,375 (+3,139) Number in i/c: 7,148 (+472 = +17 net) Deaths in hospital: 7,632 (+562)
In the UK, a Downing Street spokeswoman has said: “The prime minister continues to make steady progress. He remains in intensive care”
AP News with Jewish Voice Web Editor Analysis – Exclusive analysis towards bottom
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders, who saw his once strong lead in the Democratic primary evaporate as the party’s establishment lined swiftly up behind rival Joe Biden, ended his presidential bid on Wednesday, an acknowledgment that the former vice president is too far ahead for him to have any reasonable hope of catching up.
The Vermont senator’s announcement makes Biden the presumptive Democratic nominee to challenge President Donald Trump in November.
“The path toward victory is virtually impossible,” Sanders told supporters as he congratulated Biden. The former vice president is “a very decent man whom I will work with to move our progressive ideas forward.”
Sanders initially exceeded sky-high expectations about his ability to recreate the magic of his 2016 presidential bid, and even overcame a heart attack last October. But he found himself unable to convert unwavering support from progressives into a viable path to the nomination amid “electability” fears fueled by questions about whether his democratic socialist ideology would be palatable to general election voters.
The 78-year-old senator began his latest White House bid facing questions about whether he could win back the supporters who chose him four years ago as an insurgent alternative to the party establishment’s choice, Hillary Clinton. Despite winning 22 states in 2016, there were no guarantees he’d be a major presidential contender this cycle, especially as the race’s oldest candidate.
Sanders, though, used strong polling and solid fundraising — collected almost entirely from small donations made online — to more than quiet early doubters. Like the first time, he attracted widespread support from young voters and was able to make new inroads within the Hispanic community, even as his appeal with African Americans remained small.
Sanders amassed the most votes in Iowa and New Hampshire, which opened primary voting, and cruised to an easy victory in Nevada — seemingly leaving him well positioned to sprint to the Democratic nomination while a deeply crowded and divided field of alternatives sunk around him.
But a crucial endorsement of Biden by influential South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, and a subsequent, larger-than-expected victory in South Carolina, propelled the former vice president into Super Tuesday, when he won 10 of 14 states.
In a matter of days, his top former Democratic rivals lined up and announced their endorsement of Biden. The former vice president’s campaign had appeared on the brink of collapse after New Hampshire but found new life as the rest of the party’s more moderate establishment coalesced around him as an alternative to Sanders.
Things only got worse the following week when Sanders lost Michigan, where he had campaigned hard and upset Clinton in 2016. He was also beaten in Missouri, Mississippi and Idaho the same night and the results were so decisive that Sanders headed to Vermont without speaking to the media.
The coronavirus outbreak essentially froze the campaign, preventing Sanders from holding the large rallies that had become his trademark and shifting the primary calendar. It became increasingly unclear where he could notch a victory that would help him regain ground against Biden.
Though he will not be the nominee, Sanders was a key architect of many of the social policies that dominated the Democratic primary, including a “Medicare for All” universal, government-funded health care plan, tuition-free public college, a $15 minimum wage and sweeping efforts to fight climate change under the “Green New Deal.”
He relished the fact that his ideas — viewed as radical four years ago— had become part of the political mainstream by the next election cycle, as Democratic politics lurched to the left in the Trump era.
AP story Ends Here
JV WEB EDITOR ANALYSIS : As Sanders began campaigning with radical Anti-Semites like Linda Sarsour and Ilan Omar, AOC and the rest of the “Squad”, his base of independent working class voters began to vanish, in 2016 his campaign was more pro-worker and not far far left social-justice warrior based. While main stream media refused to point out the detrimental effect of “woke politicians” who appeal to a tiny sliver of Americans, it was predicted by Jared Evan of The Jewish Voice that the more the rural working class independent voters & liberal Jewish voters saw him rallying with the anti- Semite, anti-Israel, and anti white “Squad” , his base would dissolve to deranged revolutionaries and communists. Sanders also shifted his formally solid pro 2nd amendment stances to becoming an anti-gun radical and began repeatedly calling Trump a racist and “homophobe” both claims which bare no actual evidence . Sanders shifted from being against illegal labor, to embracing totally open boarders, illegal immigration and guest workers. Sanders used to believe that guest workers & undocumented labor lowered wages. Bernie went so far left he began sounding like a 17 year old feminist college student, as opposed to an independent pro working class trailblazer, and it cost him his campaign .
Broadway will remain closed through June 7, a two-month extension of the current coronavirus shutdown that would seem to retroactively end the 2019-2020 Broadway season with the March 12 shutdown Deadline reported.
The extension announcement was made today by the Broadway League, the trade group representing theater owners and producers, which had been in discussions with theatrical unions this week.
“Our top priority continues to be the health and well-being of Broadway theatergoers and the thousands of people who work in the theater industry every day, including actors, musicians, stagehands, ushers, and many other dedicated professionals.” said Charlotte St. Martin, President of the Broadway League. “Broadway will always be at the very heart of the Big Apple, and we join with artists, theater professionals, and fans in looking forward to the time when we can once again experience live theater together.”
Thirty-one productions went dark on March 12, some having just begun previews. In all, 15 productions had been set to open this spring, a schedule that was scuttled by the shutdown.
Sources tell Deadline that additional incremental extensions are possible into the summer.
Patients are brought into Wyckoff Heights Medical Center by staff wearing personal protective gear due to COVID-19 concerns, Tuesday, April 7, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
By: Marina Villeneuve & Lori Hinnant
New York state recorded 731 new coronavirus deaths Tuesday, marking the biggest one-day jump in the outbreak, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The state’s death toll since the beginning of the outbreak is now 5,489 deaths.
In this combination of photos, the flag draped remains of a Sept 11th victim are carried by NY firefighters during a recovery operation on March 8, 2002, left, and at right, a body is unloaded from a refrigerated truck in New York during the Coronavirus outbreak on March 31, 2020. New York City’s death toll from the coronavirus officially eclipsed the number of those killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11, health officials said on Tuesday, April 7th. Photo Credit: AP
“That’s 731 people who we lost. Behind every one of those numbers is an individual. There’s a family, there’s a mother, there’s a father, there’s a sister, there’s a brother. So a lot of pain again today for many New Yorkers,” Cuomo said at a briefing at the state Capitol.
The alarming death number comes even as new hospital admissions have dropped compared to last week. Cuomo said the latest death tally reflects critically ill people hospitalized before this week, calling it a “lagging indicator.”
State and city officials are cautiously optimistic the surge is beginning to level off.
Looking at New York City, the epicenter of the outbreak, more people have now died from the coronavirus than perished in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center. At least 3,202 people have been killed in the city by the virus, according to a new count released by city health officials Tuesday.
The deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil killed 2,753 people in the city and 2,977 overall, when hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001.
The coronavirus has again made New York ground zero in a national tragedy and the center of a crisis that is reshaping Americans’ lives, liberties and fears.
A member of the health staff team wearing a protective suit to protect against coronavirus, transfers a patient into an ambulance at the Severo Ochoa hospital in Leganes, outskirts of Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, April 7, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
9/11 transformed society. … You had a sense of vulnerability that you never had before, which I feel to this day,” Cuomo said during a coronavirus briefing last month. “There was a trauma to 9/11. But as a society, as a country, we have been blessed in that we have not gone through something as disruptive as this.”
The coronavirus death toll has mounted over the course of just a few weeks. The city recorded its first on March 13, less than two weeks after confirming its first infection.
But in an encouraging sign, he reported that the average number of people newly hospitalized each day is dropping, as is the number of those receiving breathing tubes, indicating that measures taken to make people keep their distance from each other are succeeding.
And alarming as the one-day increase in deaths might sound, the governor said that’s a “lagging indicator,” reflecting people who had been hospitalized before this week. Over the past several days, in fact, the number of deaths appeared to be leveling off.
And alarming as the one-day increase in deaths might sound, the governor said that’s a “lagging indicator,” reflecting people who had been hospitalized before this week. Over the past several days, in fact, the number of deaths appeared to be leveling off.
“You see that plateauing — that’s because of what we are doing. If we don’t do what we are doing, that is a much different curve,” he said. “So social distancing is working.”
A man reads a newspaper with the headline: ‘PM in intensive care’, outside St Thomas’ Hospital in central London as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in intensive care fighting the coronavirus in London, Tuesday, April 7, 2020. Johnson was admitted to St Thomas’ hospital in central London on Sunday after his coronavirus symptoms persisted for 10 days. Having been in hospital for tests and observation, his doctors advised that he be admitted to intensive care on Monday evening. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Across the U.S., the death toll reached about 11,000, with around 370,000 confirmed infections.
In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in intensive care with the virus.
In London, the 55-year-old Johnson, the world’s first head of government known to have fallen ill with the virus, was in stable condition and conscious at a hospital, where he was receiving oxygen but was not on a ventilator, said his spokesman James Slack. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was designated to run the country in the meantime.
“We’re desperately hoping that Boris can make the speediest possible recovery,” said Cabinet minister Michael Gove, who is among scores of British officials in self-isolation.
“The prime minister has been stable overnight and remains in good spirits. He is receiving standard oxygen treatment and is breathing without any other assistance,” said Slack.
He said Johnson was not receiving mechanical ventilation or “noninvasive respiratory support.” He would not give details of what form of oxygen treatment the prime minister was getting.
“It was a shock yesterday to hear the news of his going into intensive care,” said Gove, who is in isolation at home after a family member showed mild coronavirus symptoms. “All of us just want him to pull through — he is the leader of our country. He is a big-hearted, generous-spirited guy. who believes in public service. We are rooting for him.”
Johnson’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds, who is pregnant, is herself recovering from coronavirus symptoms.
Raab said “the government’s business will continue” despite the prime minister’s hospitalization.
The deterioration of Johnson’s health took many in Britain by surprise. On Monday afternoon, he tweeted that he was in good spirits and thanked the National Health Service for taking care of him and others with the disease.
The government faced calls Tuesday to be more transparent about Johnson’s condition amid concerns it had underplayed how serious it was.
A healthcare worker attends to a COVID-19 patient in an intensive care unit (ICU) at the General University Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday, April 7, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
It’s not common for details about the health of British prime ministers to be made public, except at times of crisis. Even then, information has sometimes been scanty. When Winston Churchill suffered a debilitating stroke in 1953, the government kept it secret until Churchill recovered.
Buckingham Palace said Queen Elizabeth II was being kept informed about Johnson’s condition. Buckingham Palace said the monarch “said they were in her thoughts and that she wished the prime minister a full and speedy recovery.”
The queen’s son, Prince Charles, who tested positive for the virus but has recovered, and grandson Prince William also sent messages of support.
Japan’s prime minister made the emergency declaration after a spike in infections in Tokyo, but it was a stay-at-home request — not an order — and violators will not be penalized. Despite having relatively few infections and deaths, Japan is a worrying target for a virus that has been killing the elderly at much higher rates than other age groups.
In some European hot spots, as in New York, authorities were hoping that the outbreak was turning a corner, based on slowdowns in new deaths and hospitalizations.
Customers wear face masks as they line up to enter a supermarket keeping social distancing following the government’s measures to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, April 7, 2020. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday a complete lockdown over the upcoming Passover holiday to control the country’s coronavirus outbreak, but offered citizens some hope by saying he expects to lift widespread restrictions after the week-long festival. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
In Spain, one of the hardest-hit countries, new deaths Tuesday rose to 743 and infections climbed by 5,400 after five days of declines, but the increases were believed to reflect a weekend backlog. Authorities said slowing the contagion will be a long process and were confident in the downward trend.
Italy’s commissioner for fighting the COVID-19 virus appealed to Italians ahead of Easter weekend not to lower their guard and to abide by a lockdown now in its fifth week.
Citing data that shows that pressure on Italian intensive care wards is easing, Domenico Arcuri said that ’’the cruel reality is stronger that algorithms.”
’’Don’t ever forget even for an instant that this invisible, strong and unknown virus has taken 16,523 lives through yesterday,” Arucuri said, reciting the figure repeatedly. ‘’I beg you, in the next hours and days, do not cancel this number from your memory.’’
New coronavirus cases were also slowing in France and Portugal. To keep up social distancing, Paris banned daytime jogging just as warm spring weather settled in.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said that if Americans continue to practice social distancing for the rest of April, “we will be able to get back to some sense of normalcy.”
“I want the American people to know there is a light at the end of this tunnel, and we feel confident that if we keep doing the right thing for the rest of this month, that we can start to slowly reopen in some places,” he said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
One lockdown exception in the U.S. was Wisconsin, which asked hundreds of thousands of voters to ignore a stay-at-home order to participate in its presidential primary Tuesday.
The lines were particularly long in Milwaukee, the state’s largest city and a Democratic stronghold, where just five of 180 traditional polling places were open. Many voters across the state did not have facial coverings in line with public health recommendations.
Local residents watch as the USNS Comfort departs Hampton Roads en route to New York to help in the response to the coronavirus outbreak Saturday, March 28, 2020, in Hampton, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The U.S. government’s top infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was cautiously optimistic, saying that in New York, “what we have been doing has been working.”
Stocks climbed in early trading on Wall Street on Tuesday as markets around the world piled on even more big gains following their huge rally a day earlier. The S&P 500 index rose 3% in the first few minutes of trading and added on to Monday’s 7% surge, following encouraging signs that the coronavirus pandemic may be close to leveling off in some of the hardest-hit areas of the world.
China, the first country to go into lockdown and among the strictest, reported no new deaths over the past 24 hours for the first time since it began publishing statistics on the virus that emerged in December in the city of Wuhan. Many experts, however, have been skeptical of China’s virus figures. The final travel restrictions in Wuhan are being lifted Wednesday.
Worldwide, more than 1.3 million people have been confirmed infected and over 75,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. The true numbers are almost certainly much higher, because of limited testing, different rules for counting the dead and deliberate underreporting by some governments.
For most people, the virus causes mild to moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. But for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia. Close to 300,000 people have recovered worldwide.
One of the main models on the outbreak, from the University of Washington, is now projecting about 82,000 U.S. deaths through early August, or 12% fewer than previously forecast, with the highest number of daily deaths occurring on April 16.
Here are other coronavirus developments in New York:
HOSPITAL SHIP INFECTION
A crew member of a Navy hospital ship sent to New York City for the coronavirus outbreak has tested positive for the disease.
In this May 23, 2018 file photo, a stone proclaiming “The City of New York Potters Field” is displayed on Hart Island in New York. On Monday, April 6, 2020, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that officials are exploring the possibility of temporarily burying coronavirus victims on Hart Island, a one-mile, limited access strip off the Bronx borough of New York that has long served as the city’s potter’s field. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
The USNS Comfort crew member tested positive Monday and was being isolated, the Navy said in a prepared statement. The positive test will not affect the 1,000-bed hospital ship’s mission to receive patients, according to the Navy.
The Comfort has treated about 40 non-COVID-19 patients since arriving in the city last week, prompting complaints it was doing little to help overburdened hospitals in the area.
President Trump said Monday he agreed to take COVID-19 patients aboard the ship after speaking with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Federal officials say emergency patients will now be seen on the ship, whether or not they have the virus, though the ship can only isolate only a small number of patients.
Several hundred Hasidim turned out for the very public funeral for a local rabbi, Tzvi Hirsh Meislish. Crowds of mourners took to the streets Sunday night at Hewes Street near Marcy Avenue in Williamsburg. Photo Credit: Pinterest
By: Charles Kirschner
There is irony in the fact that Hasidic Jews who continue to hold public weddings and funerals in Brooklyn despite the coronavirus pandemic are themselves breaking Jewish law, which states that Jews must uphold the laws of the countries in which they reside.
Case in point: several hundred Hasidim turned out for the very public funeral for a local rabbi, Tzvi Hirsh Meislish. Crowds of mourners took to the streets Sunday night at Hewes Street near Marcy Avenue in Williamsburg.
Meislish, 80, reportedly was another victim of COVID-19, which also serves to underscore the irony.
Police, of course, responded the way police always do, breaking up the assemblage with sirens and blasting social distancing messages from PA systems. To the NYPD’s credit, officers refrained from making arrests or handing out citations.
“The NYPD needs all New Yorkers to cooperate with the ban on social gatherings in order to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus,” a police spokesperson told the New York Post. “It is important to note that the vast majority are following all guidelines. The NYPD will continue to enforce social distancing and any large gathering — including services — put both members of the public and officers at risk. These gatherings must cease immediately.”
Instances such as this are also causing rifts in the Orthodox community. “Some of Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox leaders are demanding an end to ongoing prayer services, funeral processions, and other illicit gatherings in parts of the community, as COVID-19 continues to rip through the tight-knit religious neighborhoods at disproportionate rates,” noted gothamist.com. “Frustrated by what they say is a continued dismissal of the threat of the virus, some members of the community have taken it upon themselves to ensure compliance from their neighbors. On Saturday, Dr. Stuart Ditcheck, a physician at NYU, called the police on the Chabad of Marine Park, one of the few synagogues that’s remained open in that section of Brooklyn.”
Such behavior is also causing theological arguments, with the long-held belief that leading a Torah life can protect individual Jews from harm is being hotly debated. The web site rationalistjudaism.com recently discussed Jews ignoring shelter-in-place orders in Israel and noted: “It’s horrific. A top health official estimated that nearly 40 percent of the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak–around seventy-five thousand people–have contracted coronavirus. Per capita, its infection numbers are four times higher than the next most infected city, Jerusalem. The government met last night to approve a full, military-enforced closure on Bnei Brak… It’s a shocking thing for believers in Daas Torah to accept. It’s not just that Torah turns out not to protect against coronavirus. It’s that the mouthpieces of Torah, the living embodiments of Torah, the guiding lights of the community, gave utterly disastrous guidance, with fatal consequences.”
“People should plan their once-every-10-days (or more) visit to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Gristedes or wherever with military precision, says Ahn, who is also the associate director of population science at the NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center.” Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org
By: Kevin O’Connor
Lockdown or not, everyone needs to go to the supermarket.
Or do they?
The government doesn’t appear certain. At one of the daily White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings held last week, experts warned against going to the supermarket or drug store – at least more than is absolutely necessary – as the pandemic appears to peak.
“This is the moment not to be going to the grocery store, not going to the pharmacy, but doing everything you can to keep your family and your friends safe,” said response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx. “We as Americans should be doing everything possible. And what I meant was, if you can consolidate, if you can send one person — the entire family doesn’t need to go out on these occasions. This is a highly transmittable virus.”
Manhattan epidemiologist Dr. Jiyoung Ahn told the New York Post recently that “The problem is that people have to eat. I agree with the White House directive to avoid going out shopping as much as you can, but in many cases, it is unavoidable.”
Though unavoidable, Ahn said, there are ways that New Yorkers can minimize the risk of heading out for groceries. For example:
* Go less frequently. “People should plan their once-every-10-days (or more) visit to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Gristedes or wherever with military precision, says Ahn, who is also the associate director of population science at the NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center.”
Rigorously planning meals several days in advance means no additional trips out of the house will be needed for forgotten ingredients. Inside stores, women are well advised to shop more like men, quickly going from listed item to listed item and getting out as quickly as possible.
* Have groceries brought to your door. “If possible, using a delivery service will help you stay inside. Some users report success with popular grocery delivery services such as Fresh Direct by placing orders in the middle of the night. Other services to try out include Instacart, Amazon Fresh and Peapod, though you may experience delays. Mercato is offering free delivery for those 60 years or older with the code OVER60,” the Post reported. (For the full story, check out the Post’s report at https://nypost.com/2020/04/06/a-comprehensive-guide-to-avoiding-the-grocery-store-and-pharmacy/.)
Dr. Ravinder Khaira in Sacramento, CA, told ABC News that “First and foremost, we’ll need to socially distance” when going shopping. “What’s been most successful for my wife and I is that we pause and give everybody the right of way.”
“Shoppers should wash their hands and wipe down the handles of shopping carts when entering a store, said Khaira. You should do the same when you exit the store as well,” abc10.com reported. “Khaira also urges people not to touch their faces. You can wear a cloth mask, he said. Although, it may not protect you from the virus itself, it’s a reminder not to touch your face. You should shop alone rather than with your family. This will help prevent any unnecessary exposure to other family members.”
Dr. Kenneth Davis, Mount Sinai’s CEO is among the 14 top executives to take a 50% pay cut during the pandemic (Photo. Mount Sinai website)
By: Jared Evan
Mount Sinai Health System said its senior executives will take a 50% pay cut during the Covid-19 emergency so the system can shift millions of dollars to its pandemic response Crain’s reported.
Last week, it was reported that during the pandemic two top executives of Mount Sinai hospital are said to be staying in their Florida vacation homes during coronavirus pandemic. This prompted a lot of anger and political posturing.
TJV reported that City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said he was outraged – he called them “shameful and shocking” –when he saw a much-publicized photograph of several nurses at Mount Sinai West dressed in garbage bags because they had apparently run out of hospital gowns. The supply shortage was all the more outrageous since Governor Andrew Cuomo has said publicly that New York’s hospitals are sufficiently stocked.
In all, 14 executives have agreed to donate half their salary during the crisis, as the eight-hospital system faces an unprecedented surge in patients. A spokeswoman for Mount Sinai declined to provide the total amount of money that would be contributed, Crain’s reported.
Dr. Kenneth Davis, Mount Sinai’s CEO, earned $5.6 million in cash compensation in 2018, making him the sixth highest-paid hospital executive that year, according to the Crain’s list of the highest-paid hospital leaders—which uses the most recent data available
Davis was one of the two executives who were reported as staying in their Florida vacation homes during coronavirus pandemic.
The NY Post reported: “Davis has been in the Sunshine State for weeks and is joined by Dr. Arthur Klein, 72, president of the Mount Sinai Health Network, who owns an oceanfront condo in Palm Beach.”
Crain’s reported: “While this does not come close to closing the hundreds of millions of dollars being lost per month, Dr. Kenneth Davis and his executive leadership team at the Mount Sinai Health System have offered and agreed to take a 50% pay cut for as long as necessary so that these dollars can be directed to our front lines in this fight,” the spokeswoman said.
Four top Mount Sinai executives in 2018, Crain’s estimates that the leaders would collectively donate at least $1 million per month during the emergency. Mount Sinai did not respond to questions about the accuracy of the estimate.
Members of the New York State Nurses Association held a protest Friday morning outside Mount Sinai Hospital to raise concerns that they don’t have adequate safety gear to protect themselves from getting sick while treating patient, Crain’s reported.
Mt. Sinai has not barred hospital staff from talking to reporters. Some hospitals have reportedly threatened to fire those who talk to the media about medical supplies shortages or working conditions. MT Sinai has continued to perform excellent work even during the shortage of supplies
The NYPD has seen a 75% increase in reports of burglaries of commercial establishments from March 12, when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency, to March 31, police officials said. The NYPD recorded 254 burglaries of businesses during that time period this year compared with 145 for the same period last year, the officials said.
NYC Fox News outlet described the scene: – A growing scene for those who venture out into the streets of Manhattan these days is boarded up storefronts. From luxury retailers to small bars, establishments that have no idea when they are going to be allowed to reopen are putting up protection over their glass doors and windows.
Mark Caserta, executive director of the Park Slope business improvement district gave an interesting perspective to the WSJ regarding the trend of business boarding up their storefronts,” It brings up this idea of rioting and collapse of society,” Mr. Caserta said. “This is way too much, and it sends the wrong signal.”
Burglaries have drastically increased while other crimes have dropped. Thus far NYC has not experienced major violence on the streets, but many predict things can become worse the longer the shelter-in-place and general shutdowns remain in place.
The biggest reason business are concerned : Fox5 pointed out on Thursday, 6,498 uniformed members of the NYPD were on the sick report which accounts for 18% of the Department’s uniformed workforce. 1,354 uniformed members and 169 civilian members have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The increase in commercial burglaries comes as major crimes across the city fell during the pandemic. From March 12 through March 31, major felonies, such as rapes, murders and assaults, fell by nearly 20% when compared with the same period in 2019, dropping to 3,740 such crimes from 4,670 a year earlier.
“We knew with the closing of many stores that we could see an increase and, unfortunately, we are,” said NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri to the WSJ.
The Jewish Voice reported on March 26th that sccording to NYPD statistics, compared to the week before last there was an overall decrease in the crime rate and that includes murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary and grand larceny.
In the case of stolen vehicles, the NY Post reported that thirty-five more vehicles were reported stolen this year, marking a 52% increase from the same week last year.
The Daily News reported that rapes were more than cut in half, from 33 the week before last to 15 last week and the number of robberies were down 8%, to 210 from 229.
There were just 16 people shot last week, compared to 20 the week before. And with more people home, burglaries dropped 19%, to 173 from 213, according to the NY Daily News report.
The NY Post reported that grand larceny was down 31% with 517 reported so far this year, compared to 753 last year. Rape and other sex crimes were both down, 69% and 43%, respectively. Felony assault was down nearly 9% and misdemeanor assault down was 21%.
Orthodox Jewish men carry the casket (Mark Lennihan/AP Photo)
By: Jared Evan
Borough Park, Crown Heights, Williamsburg and Midwood all have above-average positive coronavirus positive test rates compared to most other areas in the five boroughs, JTA reported.
Orthodox Jews, for whom large families and frequent communal gatherings could have led to easier transmission of the virus, according to US News and World Report.
In Borough Park, more than 67% of coronavirus tests have come back positive — the highest rate in Brooklyn and sixth highest of any Zip code in New York City.
In Crown Heights, 63.4% of tests are positive, while in Williamsburg the figure is 62.5% and in Midwood it is 60.3%. The average positive test rate across the city is 53%.
Haredi, men are accustomed to attending communal prayers three times a day, and social lives revolve around synagogue and lifecycle celebrations like weddings and funerals. Haredi or Orthodox families are also larger than average and tend to live in dense neighborhoods in the city, JTA reported.
Many incidents have been documented on social media, showing Orthodox gathering in the streets for weddings and other religious communal events.
A Orthodox wedding held in Marine Park went viral on Facebook and many virulent anti-Semitic remarks followed from readers. Many people in the Jewish community have pleaded with the Orthodox to refrain from their traditions during the pandemic.
Mikveh (ritual baths) have mostly modified their services and are allowing Jews to partake in the ritual immersion to achieve purity only by appointment.
Ironically, the Corona neighborhood tops the list at more than 77%.
The five city Zip codes with the highest positive test rates are in Queens, with the Corona neighborhood topping the list at more than 77%. It is speculated that these working class, highly Hispanic areas are populated by individuals who jobs are impossible to preform from home and are considered essential .
The areas of New York that have a larger share of households with people over 65 had higher rates of confirmed cases per 1,000 people, the AP found. But other demographic variables – from high household incomes to large shares of foreign-born populations to areas with large numbers of overcrowded housing units – saw no significant link to COVID-19 case trends, US News and World Report, explained.
Asked about why some areas had been hit harder than others, Dr. Mitchell Katz, chief executive of the city-run hospital system, told AP that crowded housing could play a role.
“We know that in Queens, many families, because of poverty, live together in very close quarters. So that while we are practicing as a city social distancing, you may have multiple families living together in a very small apartment. And so it’s easy to understand why there’s a lot of transmission of COVID occurring,” he said.
Dr. Katz observation does not 100% prove true however, the bustling Chinese community in Flushing, Queens, have had as few positive tests per capita as any wealthy, whiter part of the city, USNWP reported.
So Far fewer than expected were not able to pay rents, but a domino effect could cause a major real estate crash (AP)
By: Jeffrey Engelmeyer
During a Thursday conference call held by the Community Housing Improvement Program with more than 100 landlords across the city, property owners said no more than 10% of their tenants reached out about not having the rent money or delaying payment Crain’s reported.
Those numbers are not bad at all considering earlier reports indicated upwards of 40% of tenants would not be able to pay rents.
The NY Times reported on several studies which indicated upcoming doom for most landlords and financially devastated tenants.
A recent online survey by the website Property Nest found that roughly 39 percent of respondents said that they would be unable to pay rent if they lost their job during the coronavirus pandemic.
Officials at the Metropolitan Council on Housing, a tenants’ rights group, said an unscientific survey conducted of its members found that 77 percent of them would have a challenge paying rent in April, with 50 percent saying they could not pay it at all.
A survey from March 20 to 22 by the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy found that 36 percent of respondents had a family member who had lost a job during the pandemic. About 44 percent of respondents said they would have trouble making their next rent or mortgage payments.
It would seem these survey’s and studies were off; however the economic crisis might not have peaked quite yet. Jay Martin executive director of Community Housing Improvement Program told Crain’s that there could be a domino effect.
Martin Explained that if tenants don’t pay rent, landlords won’t make their mortgages. If enough tenants fail to pay, banks could eventually foreclose on multifamily properties that become insolvent, leaving renters looking for new homes, or becoming homeless, and banks becoming the largest property owners in the country.
Crain’s reported: Martin cautioned that if the percentage of tenants who seek to renegotiate their lease—or acknowledge a failure to pay—ticks up into the 20% range, then smaller landlords and smaller operators won’t able to pay their vendors. Any increase of percentage into the 35% or 45% default range would impact the operators of 100-unit and 200-unit buildings. And anything higher than that percentage increase would affect corporate owners such as Blackstone—and by that point smaller building owners no longer would be able to operate.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and other governors has ordered a 90-day moratorium on evictions, which does not wipe out rents but delays payments. Tenant advocates naturally feel this is not enough. Regardless of whether you are an owner, tenant or landlord, we can still lay witness to one of the biggest housing market crashes in America’s history due to the Covid-19 pandemic
In this Saturday, April 4, 2020 photo, emergency medical technician Josh Allert poses for a photo in New York. Thousands of workers have been thrust onto the front lines of the coronavirus emergency in New York City. That includes Allert, whose days are a blur and a battle. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
By: AP
Josh Allert’s days are a blur and a battle.
His mental and physical stamina are constantly put to the test as the 22-year-old emergency medical technician transports coronavirus patients around New York. He is burdened by the push-and-pull between the desire to help at the epicenter of the pandemic and the knowledge doing so separates him from the people he loves. He worries about getting sick or infecting his family.
Sitting in an ambulance as it dashed across New York City near the end of another draining shift earlier this week, the stress overwhelmed him.
“I cried on the truck,” Allert told The Associated Press. “I’ve been working this hard and just wanted to go see my family and spend time with them and kiss them and hug them, and I can’t right now.”
Allert is part of an army of workers who have suddenly been thrust onto the front lines of the outbreak in New York, where the staggering death toll from coronavirus has surpassed 4,000.
A month ago, Allert’s EMT job served as his side hustle. Then COVID-19 crashed into the city. Everything shut down, including the computer work he was trying to turn into a full-time gig.
The private ambulance company where Allert moonlights began offering more opportunities. A lot more. During a recent weekend, he put in a 12-hour shift on Friday followed by a 21-hour stint the following day. The phone can ring at all hours.
He was on his Xbox at 2 a.m. recently trying to decompress when they asked him to come in. So he did. Another wearying 18-hour stint followed.
“Technically I’m only part-time, but I know what the deal is,” Allert said. “There’s a lot of patients going in. They need us to take people out. … It’s hard work. A lot of us are only making a couple dollars more than minimum wage but I’m doing this for my family, trying to help them out.”
The sight of Allert coming into a COVID-19 patient’s room is typically good news. Many of his runs during the epidemic have centered around transporting recovering patients back home to open up beds for the next in a seemingly unending wave.
Yet the process is anything but smooth. Whenever Allert enters a hospital, he is required to have his temperature taken before filling out paperwork concerning his recent whereabouts.
As he navigates hospital hallways in his protective gear, he walks into a sea of patients on ventilators fighting an opponent blind to race, gender and circumstance.
“It’s looking very grim,” Allert said. “A lot of hospitals are overpacked. You got people in the hallways, standing, sitting on chairs. You can see the staff interacting with other patients. Tensions are high, people are frustrated.”
The job is not easy. He’d like to receive hazard pay. He’s not. He’d like his company to have a bigger stash of personal protection equipment. It doesn’t. He’d like for things to return to some semblance of normal. It won’t. Maybe not for a long time.
“There’s still a lot more to go around, as morbid as that sounds,” he said. “This is spreading really fast.”
So for now, he’ll keep doing what he can when he can. That means answering the phone when it rings. That means giving himself a self-administered breathing test shortly after waking up. That means taking care of the people in front of him now in hopes he can take care of the people closest to him the next day.
“I’m still working and breathing,” Allert said. ”(My family), I think they’re concerned. They’re Christian. They want you to take your precautions. They believe this is in God’s hands.”
Lowe's customers wear gloves and masks as they shop, Friday, April 3, 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
By: AP
With the coronavirus pandemic quickly spreading, U.S. health officials have changed their advice on face masks and now recommend people wear cloth masks in public areas where social distancing can be difficult, such as grocery stores.
But can these masks be effective?
President Donald Trump, in announcing the change in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance on April 3, stressed that the recommendation was voluntary and said he probably wouldn’t follow it. Governors and mayors, however, have started encouraging the precautions to reduce the spread of the virus by people who might not know they are infected.
Some cities have gone as far as setting fines for failing to wear a mask. In Laredo, Texas, anyone over the age of five who walks into a store or takes public transit without their mouth and nose covered by a mask or bandana could now be fined up to $1,000.
These new measures are designed to “flatten the curve,” or slow the spread of the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19.
Flattening the curve is another way of saying slowing the spread. The epidemic is lengthened, but we reduce the number of severe cases, causing less burden on public health systems. The Conversation/CC BY ND.
They’re also a shift from the advice Americans have been hearing since the coronavirus pandemic began.
The World Health Organization and the CDC have repeatedly said that most people do not need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. In February, the U.S. surgeon general even urged the public to stop buying medical masks, warning that it would not help against the spread of the coronavirus. Part of the reason was to reserve N95 respirators and masks for healthcare workers like myself who are on the front lines and exposed to people with COVID-19.
Today, there is much more data and evidence on how COVID-19 is spread, and the prevalence of the disease itself is far more widespread than previously thought.
Sick, but no symptoms
As recently as early February, the World Health Organization stated that viral transmission from asymptomatic people was likely “rare,” based on information available at the time. But a growing body of data now suggests that a significant number of infected people who don’t have symptoms can still transmit the virus to others.
A CDC report issued March 23 on COVID-19 outbreaks on cruise ships offers a glimpse of the danger. It describes how the testing of passengers and crew on board the Diamond Princess found that nearly half – 46.5% – of the more than 700 people found to be infected with the new coronavirus had no symptoms at the time of testing.
The CDC explained that “a high proportion of asymptomatic infections could partially explain the high attack rate among cruise ship passengers and crew.”
Dr. Harvey Fineberg, former president of the National Academy of Medicine and head of a new federal committee on infectious diseases, told CNN on April 2 that he will start wearing a mask in public, especially at grocery stores, for this very reason. “While the current specific research is limited, the results of available studies are consistent with aerosolization of virus from normal breathing,” he said.
It is these “silent carriers” – people infected with the virus but without fever, cough, or muscle aches – that proponents of universal mask wearing point to as proof that more could be done beyond social distancing to slow the virus’s spread.
More effective than doing nothing
While research on the effectiveness of universal mask wearing for reducing respiratory droplet transmission is still thin, there is evidence to support it.
In this Thursday, March 26, 2020 file photo, a boy carries a box of matzos for Passover that he picked up from his synagogue in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The coronavirus has forced Jewish families to limit the celebratory Passover meals known as seders from extended families and friends to small, one-household affairs. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
By: Elana Schor
Passover and its epic story–how the Jewish people escaped to freedom after plagues struck their oppressors–are uniquely resonant this year, as Jews find ways to honor the holiday amid the outbreak of what feels like a real-life plague.
The coronavirus has forced Jewish families to limit the celebratory Passover meals known as seders from extended families and friends to small, one-household affairs.
But the pandemic hasn’t cut the connection that Jews from all backgrounds feel to one of their calendar’s most important holidays–and, for many, the global crisis has deepened its meaning.
Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious relations at the American Jewish Committee, described the gravity of Passover during the coronavirus by reciting a key portion of the Haggadah, the sacred text Jews use on the holiday.
“‘This year we are enslaved–next year we will be free.’ That aspiration is very real this year,” Marans said, looking ahead to a future victory over the disease.
As the all-are-welcome spirit of seders is constrained by public health rules set up to help stop the virus, more liberal Jewish communities are embracing digital connections with socially distant family and friends.
Jews in all branches of the faith are also taking the opportunity to ensure those in high-risk populations have enough of the food, including the unleavened bread known as matzo, which represents their ancestors’ exodus from bondage in Egypt.
The Chabad-Lubavitch movement of Hasidism has expanded its annual distribution of “seder-to-go” kits, which had typically been prepared for hospitalized or otherwise housebound Jews, to help serve families and individuals confined to their homes during a quarantine. Chabad projects it will distribute 250,000 seder kits throughout North America.
Rabbi Zalman Shmotkin, spokesman for Chabad-Lubavitch, said that he has started speaking to his children about the deeper and historical meaning of the seder to help them understand why this year’s dinner will look and feel so different. Part of the spirit of Passover, Shmotkin said, involves recognizing obstacles but managing “to supersede that and break out, find a way to see godliness in it.”
Steve Weinstein, 62, is preparing for a seder for two this year — just Weinstein and his wife, without the extended family they typically host in Milwaukee.
“It’s very sad not to have everybody together,” Weinstein said.
Although he’s only started to think about the broader message of this more somber Passover, Weinstein said, “we’ll find ways to be able to equate” the holiday’s biblical narrative with the outbreak. The virus could be viewed in one sense, he said, as the oppressive rule that Jews eventually overcame.
Passover’s power to bring Jews both observant and secular to the seder table is unparalleled among holidays on the faith’s calendar, according to 2013 polling by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. Seven in 10 Jews reported participating in a seder the previous year, compared with 53% who reported fasting during Yom Kippur, the holy Jewish day of atonement.
With the coronavirus shaking up Passover tradition, different branches of the faith are offering their own seder guidance. For those permitted and planning to use Zoom, FaceTime or other digital platforms for a virtual seder, the Union of Reform Judaism created a guide for creative ways to get online guests involved.
Millions of dollars in additional funds are being made available to agencies around the world that provide aid to Holocaust survivors, whose advanced age and health issues makes them particularly vulnerable to the new coronavirus, the organization that handles claims on behalf of Jewish victims of the Nazis announced Monday. Photo Credit: AP
By: AP
Millions of dollars in additional funds are being made available to agencies around the world that provide aid to Holocaust survivors, whose advanced age and health issues makes them particularly vulnerable to the new coronavirus, the organization that handles claims on behalf of Jewish victims of the Nazis announced Monday.
The New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany said Monday the $4.3 million in initial funding would be made available to agencies around the world providing care for some 120,000 survivors.
The emergency funding includes 200,000 euros ($215,000) from the Alfred Landecker Foundation, established last year by one of Germany’s richest families, whose assets include Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, as a way to help atone for its use of forced laborers during the Nazi era and support of Adolf Hitler’s regime.
All survivors are elderly, with the end of World War II now 75 years in the past, and many suffered from illness, malnutrition and other deprivations either at the hands of the Nazis or as they hid from them, which continues to affect their health today.
There are no statistics yet as to how many Holocaust survivors have been infected by the new coronavirus, but Israel’s first reported COVID-19 fatality was 88-year-old survivor Aryeh Even, and about a third of the elderly population in Israel are survivors, according to the Claims Conference.
“The coronavirus pandemic is a frightening time for Holocaust survivors as this is a population, like many elderly, that already tends to experience too much social isolation,” said Claims Conference President Julius Berman. “The social isolation caused by this health crisis can take a serious emotional toll which, if unchecked can lead to physical ailments.”
The additional funds will be used to “address critical gaps” in providing survivors help with home care, food, medicine and other assistance as it is needed.
It is in addition to approximately $350 million in direct compensation the Claims Conference is providing to more than 60,000 survivors in 83 countries this year, and some $610 million in grants to more than 300 social service agencies.
The Claims Conference is also providing advances of previously committed funds and taking other steps to help the agencies that support survivors.
(AP)
“Agencies are going to have a cash flow problem and fundraising is going to be difficult,” said Greg Schneider, executive vice president of the Claims Conference. “We want them to do what they do best and go save lives.”
As a result of negotiations with the Claims Conference since 1952, the German government has paid more than $80 billion in Holocaust reparations.
