WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday played down the possibility that the coronavirus could be worse this winter despite medical experts’ warnings that COVID-19 could combine with the flu to make a more complicated return to the United States. Trump, who has been pushing for states to begin reopening their economies, batted down […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of a government agency combating the coronavirus pandemic alleged Wednesday that he was ousted for opposing politically connected efforts to promote a malaria drug that President Donald Trump touted without proof as a remedy for COVID-19. Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, said in […]

ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he “disagreed strongly” with the decision by Georgia’s Republican governor to reopen salons, gyms and other nonessential businesses later this week, saying, “It’s just too soon.” During the daily White House briefing on the new coronavirus, the president indicated that while he is in favor of […]

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jill Karofsky campaigned from a pandemic-induced social distance, and she celebrated the same way after her surprise election to Wisconsin’s Supreme Court. “I couldn’t have done it without your help,” the 53-year-old judge shouted from a six-foot distance into a camera last week in front of her Madison home as neighbors cheered […]

BNEI BRAK (VINnews) — The porch minyanim taking place in numerous Chareidi neighborhoods around Israel and the US have led to women becoming more involved in communal prayer, as they can hear and see the men praying on nearby porches. In one case this led to an unusual shidduch between two young people from the […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced a plan Wednesday to start paying hospitals and doctors who care for uninsured patients with COVID-19, but Democratic lawmakers and health industry groups are likely to press for more. Under the approach detailed by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, hospitals and doctors would submit their bills […]

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel will go into emergency lockdown on the country’s Memorial and Independence days in an effort to tamp down the coronavirus crisis, raising an outcry from bereaved families. On Wednesday, the Cabinet in a meeting via conference call approved the emergency measures, which prevent Israelis from leaving their homes and communities on […]

JERUSALEM (JNS) — With some ultra-Orthodox (haredi) communities in Israel having been under complete lockdown due to the high rate of COVID-19 infections, a major controversy has been raging in Israel over whether the leaders of these communities were initially aware of the dangers of the virus and, if they were, whether they intentionally encouraged […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite pockets of attention-grabbing protests, a new survey finds Americans remain overwhelmingly in favor of stay-at-home orders and other efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. A majority say it won’t be safe to lift such restrictions anytime soon, even as a handful of governors announce plans to ease within days […]

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg will help create a “tracing army” that will help find people infected with the coronavirus and get them into isolation, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday. New York will coordinate the massive effort with neighboring New Jersey and Connecticut, accounting for the large number of […]