Faced with 20,000 coronavirus deaths and counting, the nation’s nursing homes are pushing back against a potential flood of lawsuits with a sweeping lobbying effort to get states to grant them emergency protection from claims of inadequate care. At least 15 states have enacted laws or governors’ orders that explicitly or apparently provide nursing homes and long-term care facilities some protection from lawsuits arising from the crisis. And in the case of New York, which leads the nation in deaths in such facilities, a lobbying group wrote the first draft of a measure that apparently makes it the only state with specific protection from both civil lawsuits and criminal prosecution.

New York City “cannot afford a boomerang” of COVID-19 cases, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday. During his daily briefing on the coronavirus, the Mayor warned that if stay-at-home orders and other restrictions are lifted too quickly, the highly contagious disease could make a comeback. “The danger is a bounce-back, a boomerang, where the disease seems to be going away and then reasserts,” de Blasio said. “The cases come on more and more and the numbers go up and more and more people are afflicted and that would set back a restart and a recovery by a long time.” Mayor de Blasio mentioning three locations where the dangers of the “boomerang effect” took a wrong turn after their restarts: Hokkaido in Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

The Honorable Bill de Blasio Mayor of New York City City Hall New York, NY 10007 Dear Mayor de Blasio, I’m writing to you today regarding the controversy around the funeral of Rabbi Chaim Mertz, the Tweets after the funeral, and the uproar that followed. I want to preface my words with a few crucial points. Number one: as someone who is somewhat involved in community affairs in Williamsburg I know firsthand that any accusation on you Mr. de Blasio of Anti-Semitism cannot be further from the truth. Anyone who says otherwise is either ignorant of the facts or straight-up lying. The fact is, that you Mr. Mayor has been a true friend to our community from the first day you entered the office and continued in this vein ever since.

NYC Mayor DeBlasio blew an opportunity on Sunday morning to explain a glaring double standard that has brought him under attack. DeBlasio fudged his way out of the question convincing even more people of their accusations. As YWN had reported, the morning after Williamsburg’s Levaya incident last week, the NYPD was out in force and wrote nearly 100 summonses to pedestrians for not wearing masks. One each summonse, it was clearly written that the reason for the summose was “Mayor’s executive order”. Yet on Shabbos afternoon, the NYPD was out around the city and not only were they not giving summonses to people not wearing masks, but they were actually giving out masks to those not wearing them.

NY has delayed the enforcement of its controversial plastic bag ban for the third time, and enforcement of the ban, which went into effect March 1, would now wait until June 15. Enforcement of the ban was intended to begin April 1 but was extended to mid-April after New York business owners filed a lawsuit, claiming they didn’t have time to prepare for it. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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Below is a response to a letter written to State Senator Jen Metzger by a Sullivan County Resident. Thank you for writing, Linda. I am well aware of this issue and believe that the safest thing for all residents to do is to stay put in their homes and travel as little as possible. My team and I are doing all that we can to get through to the Governor, requesting that he provide more clarity as it relates to seasonal camps and colonies, which should certainly be shut down during this pandemic as it will be difficult for them to comply with important social distancing measures.

As warmer weather tempted New Yorkers to come out of quarantine, police dispatched 1,000 officers this weekend to enforce social distancing and a ban on congregating in public spaces. Officers set out on foot, bicycles and cars to break up crowds and remind those enjoying the weather of public health restrictions requiring they keep 6 feet away from others. “I believe with the warm weather people will come outside,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday. “You can’t stay indoors all the time. People will come outside and that’s great, go for a walk. But respect the social distancing and wear a mask.” The New York City Police Department has made 60 arrests and issued 343 summonses related to social distancing since March 16.

A New York City nursing home on Friday reported the deaths of 98 residents believed to have had the coronavirus — a staggering death toll that shocked public officials. “It’s absolutely horrifying,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “It’s inestimable loss, and it’s just impossible to imagine so many people lost in one place.” It is hard to say whether the spate of deaths at the Isabella Geriatric Center, in Manhattan, is the worst nursing home outbreak yet in the U.S., because even within the city facilities have chosen to report fatalities in different ways. A state tally of nursing home deaths released Friday listed only 13 at the home.

Air travel to Israel has come to a near standstill due to coronavirus restrictions, but one type of voyage still endures: the final journey of Jews wishing to be buried in Israel. For centuries, Jews have sought to be interred in the Holy Land, going to great lengths to secure their final resting place in the land of their biblical forefathers. Today, not even a once-in-a-century pandemic is halting this ancient last wish. “The Land of Israel is a very special place for Jewish people to be buried,” said Rabbi Michoel Fletcher, who facilitates purchases of burial plots in Israel for Jews from abroad. “The flights have been reduced heavily, but there are cargo flights.

A man who had been arrested on a charge of driving while impaired by drugs after a car crash later died while in custody in a holding cell, police said Friday. The New York Police Department said officers responding to a 911 call about a car crash on Thursday afternoon found the man in the driver’s seat at a Queens intersection. The man, identified as Nicholas Cammarata, 58, of Queens, was unconscious and taken the hospital, and placed under arrest shortly after. Police said he was released from the hospital and taken to a precinct for processing around 7 p.m. Thursday. About two hours later, officers found him unconscious and unresponsive in a cell and attempted to revive him without success, as did EMS, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. An investigation is ongoing.