Governor Phil Murphy, Acting Governor Sheila Oliver, and New Jersey Department of Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli tonight announced the first presumptive positive case of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, in New Jersey. The individual, a male in his 30s, is hospitalized in Bergen County and has been hospitalized since March 3. “My Administration is working aggressively to keep residents safe and contain the spread of COVID-19 in New Jersey,” said Governor Murphy. “We take this situation very seriously and have been preparing for this for weeks. I urge residents to remain calm and use resources from the New Jersey Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control to prepare and prevent the spread of infection.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced five more positive cases of coronavirus in New York, bringing the total in the state to 11. Ten of those 11 cases stem from the same attorney from Westchester who tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Cuomo said someone who came into contact with the Westchester man has tested positive, as well as that man’s wife and their three children. One other daughter in the family tested negative. Cuomo said the following: “The not so good news is that there was another person who was being tested who came in contact with the 50 year old lawyer, a friend of the lawyer’s who he spent time with and in close proximity in a number of situations. That person also tested positive. We then tested that person’s wife, two sons, and daughter, and they all tested positive.

A name has been added to the 11-year-old child that fell from a second story balcony in Lakewood on Tuesday night. Sadly, the incident occured in middle of celebrating his birthday party in his home. He remains in critical, and Tefillos are needed. Please be Mispallel for Chaim Moshe ben Dina. The Lakewood Police Department tells YWN the following: “Upon arrival, Officer Andrew Solomon learned that the boy was attempting to throw a party snapper from the balcony as part of his birthday celebration when he accidentally fell approximately 20 feet onto the concrete below. As a result he was transported to Jersey Shore Medical Center for treatment and evaluation of significant head injuries requiring emergency surgery.

New York senators moved to strengthen the state’s seat belt laws Tuesday and approved a bill that requires backseat adult passengers to buckle up. The legislation, passed by the state Senate and Assembly, now moves on to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Current law requires front seat adult passengers to be buckled, but the legislation would force adult backseat passengers to use a seat belt too — a move supporters say will save lives and cut down on the risk posed to buckled-in front seat riders. “The simple fact is you’re not any safer in the back seat. So we have to make that message loud and clear by passing this legislation,” said state Sen. David Carlucci on the chamber floor Tuesday.

A student at Yeshiva University has unfortunately tested positive for Coronavirus, and the Yeshiva and the MTA Yeshiva High School are taking every precaution. The latest case is the son of the Jewish lawyer from New Rochelle, who remains in critical condition in a Manhattan hospital. His name for Tehillim is אליעזר יצחק בן שפרה (Eliezer Yitzchok ben Shifra). The father works at Lewis and Garbuz P.C., a small law firm in midtown. At least seven contacts from his job are being evaluated for potential exposure, authorities told YWN. Y.U. sent out the following email moments ago: We have unfortunately confirmed that our student has tested positive for COVID-19 and our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family as well as to all those affected.

There is a coronavirus scare in Passaic, NJ, Tuesday night, after Yeshiva Bais Hillel sent out an email to the parent body. The email reads as follows: “Dear YBH Parents, Please be advised that due to a recommendation made by the Department of Health, we are cancelling parent Teacher Conferences for this evening. A member of the YBH stadd was possibly exposed to Coronavirus. We have been told that our students and staff are not at risk at this time., however we are following the recommendation to conduct a thorough cleaning of our building, which will take place this evening. The staff member will not be in school for the recommended voluntary quarantine period. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and collaborate with all appropriate agencies.

A ten-year-old Lakewood child is in critical condition after falling off a second story balcony, Tuesday evening. It happened just before 6:00PM at “Yeshiva Apartments”, located on 6th Street just off Princeton Avenue. The boy had apparently fallen over the railing on a porch, and fell two stories to the street below. Lakewood Hatzolah Paramedics rushed the child to the jersey Shore Trauma Center, where the boy was listen in critical condition. He reportedly suffered a skull fracture, and is unconscious. Please say tehillim for Moshe ben Dina. STAY UPDATED WITH BREAKING UPDATES FROM YWN VIA WHATSAPP – SIGN UP NOW Just click on this link, and you will be placed into a group. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

YWN has learned that one of the children of the Westchester attorney identified as New York’s second case of COVID-19 is an undergraduate male student at Yeshiva University. YU sent out the following message to all students and faculty: “We are working closely with, and following the recommendations of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) and the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response and other government agencies to take every necessary precaution to ensure the safety of our community. The student has not been on campus since Thursday, February 27th and is in quarantine with his family. The DOHMH is testing the family.

President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has sold his stake in a company investing in Opportunity Zone projects offering tax breaks he had personally lobbied for in Washington, sparking criticism that he was benefiting from his White House role. A filing at the Office of Government Ethics released Monday shows that Kushner received permission to defer capital gains on the sale of his stake in Cadre, a digital platform for smaller investors to buy stakes in commercial properties. Kushner’s holding in the private Cadre is worth between $25 million and $50 million, according to a financial disclosure report he filed with federal ethics officials last year. Kushner pushed for the Opportunity Zone tax breaks to be included in Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul.

Three Jewish school in New York have decided to remain closed today after suspected Coronavirus. The first school to alert the parent body is “Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy”, better known by the acronym, SAR Academy. The school is located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, on West 254th Street. SAR Academy and SAR High School said in a statement that it was a precautionary measure, following guidelines from the New York City Department of Health. YWN has learned that a father of a student(s) in the SAR Academy is listed in serious condition in a Manhattan hospital. He works in Manhattan and was recently in Miami. His name for Tehillim is אליעזר יצחק בן שפרה (Eliezer Yitzchok ben Shifra).