TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday he is issuing an executive order mandating that anyone arriving on a flight from New York City and the surrounding area submit to self-quarantine for two weeks as he tries to avoid issuing a statewide shutdown similar to other states. DeSantis said in an address […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scam artists are preying on older people’s fears by peddling fake tests for the coronavirus to Medicare recipients, a federal law enforcement agency warned on Monday. The Health and Human Services inspector general’s office said it’s seeing marketing schemes rapidly pivot to offering tests for COVID-19 and “Senior Care Packages” with hand […]

JERUSALEM (JTA) — More than half of a group of 114 students who returned to Israel from a yeshiva near the Chabad world headquarters in New York have tested positive for coronavirus. The Hasidic students returned after the headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn was closed for the first […]

TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says “enough is enough. Go home and stay home.” Trudeau says staying at home is a duty and the government will enforce it if necessary. Trudeau says he would rather not enforce it but says those who are not doing their part are putting at risk everyone else […]

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — Three members of an Orthodox community in Buenos Aires were arrested for operating a mikvah, or ritual Jewish bath, after Argentina ordered all synagogues closed last Friday as part of a strict crackdown on gatherings to combat the spread of the coronavirus. The city’s lead prosecutor, Juan Bautista Mahiques, confirmed […]

NEW YORK (VINnews) — The following joint statement regarding Pesach was sent out by the Rabbinical Alliance of America, the Orthodox Union, Agudath Israel of America, the Rabbinical Alliance of America, Young Israel, and The lakewood Vaad. Rabbinic leaders and organizations across the Orthodox spectrum have, individually, declared the health threat presented by COVID-19 a […]

New York (AP) – Last Tuesday night in Tennessee, bluegrass musicians David and Virginia Blood were busy making sandwiches. In Pittsburgh, real estate agent Michelle Bushee was stirring a pot of homemade black-bean chili in her kitchen instead of shepherding curious buyers through potential dream homes. Marty Prudenti, whose nights are usually spent working backstage […]

ORANGE COUNTY (VINnews) — A Hasidic man who had an appointment at a Toyota Service Center in Orange County on Monday morning, was asked to leave without getting service. When he confronted them, pointing to the fact that he had an appointment, and they were clearly servicing other customers, he was told “because you are […]

NEW YORK (VINnews) — In light of the extensive spread of COVID_19 in the US, the Bobover Rebbe-45, Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Unger, has instructed his Chasidim not to set up private minyanim even if they maintain the requisite social distancing. The Rebbe addressed a letter to all Bobov-45 congregants in the Tri-State area, stating that: […]

NEW YORK (VINnews) — When Margaret Novins of Freehold, N.J. fell ill on March 8, it started with fatigue, a cough and fevers that brought on vicious chills for five evenings straight. A week later she went to an urgent care center and on March 16th to an emergency room, where she complained of difficulty […]