RISHON LETZION (VINnews) — The first yeshiva to return to the new post-corona study situation was the Ateres Shlomo yeshiva headed by Rav Shalom Ber Sorotzkin, who also runs kollelim and other institutions with some 7000 students. The yeshiva now contains 21 “capsules” of 26 students each studying, eating and sleeping separately. Each self-contained capsule […]

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A set of detailed documents created by the nation’s top disease investigators meant to give step-by-step advice to local leaders deciding when and how to reopen public places such as mass transit, day care centers and restaurants during the still-raging pandemic has been shelved by the Trump administration. The 17-page report […]

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The upcoming holiday of Lag Ba’Omer has led to new arrangements both in Meron, which normally sees over half a million visitors but this year will only have a select group of people from each denomination, as well as in the rest of the country where public bonfires will be prohibited. The […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Yellow cabs are lining up before sunrise at food distribution sites across the city. Motorcyclists are buzzing over bridges, bags packed with masks and gowns. Even sushi-making robots are pitching in, freeing up acclaimed chefs to deliver meals to hospitals. With their fellow New Yorkers in need, an army of unlikely […]

MOSCOW (AP) — Two Russian doctors have died and another was seriously injured in falls from hospital windows after they reportedly came under pressure over working conditions in the coronavirus pandemic. The exact circumstances of the separate incidents in the last two weeks remain unclear and they are being investigated by police, but they underscore […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) – After Marilee Shapiro Asher was admitted to the hospital in mid-April sick with COVID-19, her daughter got a call from the doctor telling her she ought to get down there right away. Her mother likely had only 12 hours to live. “Well, he doesn’t know my mother, does he?” Joan Shapiro said. […]

NEW YORK (JTA) — Yeshiva University said its senior officials will take voluntary pay cuts through the end of the year as the school struggles to weather the coronavirus crisis. University President Ari Berman told staff and students in an email Monday that he will take a 20 percent cut and each member of the […]

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N.’s leader said Wednesday the world’s 1 billion people living with disabilities are among the hardest hit by the coronavirus and called for them to have equal access to prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the pandemic is revealing the extent to which people are marginalized and […]

NEW YORK (AP) — The great majority of people being newly hospitalized with the coronavirus in New York are either retired or unemployed and were avoiding public transit, according to a new state survey, the first such look at people still getting seriously ill despite six weeks of severe social distancing. The survey of 1,269 […]

HAVANA (AP) — Rarely used in Latin America outside hospitals before the coronavirus pandemic, face masks are now compulsory for subway riders, supermarket shoppers and even joggers in some countries — and they’re becoming a colorful part of the region’s daily life. Motifs showing up on masks are varied, often reflecting local cultures. There are […]