Fully-vaccinated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing, according to long-awaited guidance from federal health officials. The recommendations also say that vaccinated people can come together in the same way with people considered at low-risk for severe disease, such as in the case of vaccinated grandparents visiting healthy children and grandchildren. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the guidance Monday. The guidance is designed to address a growing demand, as more adults have been getting vaccinated and wondering if it gives them greater freedom to visit family members, travel, or do other things like they did before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world last year.

An indictment for infiltrating enemy territory and attempting to infiltrate enemy territory was filed on Sunday in the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court against the 25-year-old woman from Modiin Illit who crossed the border into Syria. A gag order is currently in place on further details of the indictment. Attorneys Anat Yaari and Iyad Azzam from the Public Defender’s Office, who represented the woman, criticized the decision to file an indictment against their client. “In contrast to past cases in which there was a violation of state security and no indictment was filed against those who crossed the border, in this case, it is clear to all that the woman didn’t harm, and had no intention of harming state security,” they stated.

YWN regrets to inform you of the sudden Petira of Hagaon HaRav Yechezkel Roth ZATZAL, the leading Posek in Boro Park. He was 85. Rav Roth suffered a massive heart attack at around 8:00AM Sunday morning. Boro Park Hatzolah rushed to the scene and did all they could to save his life. Unfortunately, he was Niftar at around 8:30AM. Rav Roth was known as the Karlsburger Rov. He lead a venerated beis hora’ah in Boro Park, and was one of leading Poskim in the world today. He served as the Posek for many organizations such as Misaskim. He was a Mechaber of many Seforim, including Emek HaTeshuvah (nine volumes), Chezkas Taharah Hilchos Niddah, Emek Shmaatsa Gemara, Chazon Yechezkel on Drush, Mishpat Ha’aretz on Shmittah, Keren HaTorah Ribbis, Mai Chanukah on Hilchos Chanukah and other works.

Two more of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s aides are accusing him of harassment. One of the accusers is Karen Hinton, who later served as Mayor de Blasio’s press secretary. They are the third and fourth former aides to come forward alleging the governor inappropriately interacted with them. This includes former aide Lindsey Boylan and former health policy advisor Charlotte Bennett. Anna Ruch, who was not an aide to the governor, also came forward with accusations of inappropriate behavior. Cuomo’s office responded by saying, “This did not happen. Karen Hinton is a known antagonist of the Governor’s who is attempting to take advantage of this moment to score cheap points with made up allegations from 21 years ago.

Is Spirit Airlines targeting Jews? That’s what it seems like, after more Jews were banned from flying with the airlines for no reason whatsoever. Just three days ago, YWN published an article about a family who received a letter from Spirit Airlines banning them from flying for two years. YWN reported that the family of five children and parents had an uneventful flight from a NY area airport to Florida in mid-January, and received a letter banning them three weeks later. In the article, YWN reported how we had spoked to a family member who said that they were all masked as required by law, and had no altercation with any of the flight crew. They never left their seats, and sat in their assigned seats the entire flight.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke to US Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday night on a variety of topics, including Iran, the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, and the International Criminal Court’s decision to open a probe into Israeli “war crimes.” Netanyahu told Harris that as the prime minister of Israel, he is “totally committed to preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons designed to destroy Israel,” a statement from his office said. Harris’s office stated that the two countries have agreed to continue cooperating on the Iranian nuclear program “and the regime’s dangerous regional behavior.” I spoke with Prime Minister @Netanyahu of Israel. @POTUS and I are unwavering in our commitment to Israel’s security.

The following was sent to YWN by the Chaim V’Chessed Organization: As reported earlier this week, the skies will largely open for Israeli citizens on Sunday, March 7. In most circumstances, Israelis will be allowed to travel without obtaining special permission. At the same time, the government announced its intent to limit the flow of passengers entering Israel. The government’s method of doing this will apparently cause difficulty to travelers intent of departing Israel in the coming days. The authorities plan to limit travelers by simply decreasing the number of flights to and from Israel. This has already led to numerous flight cancellations in the coming week. Sources tell Chaim V’Chessed that more scheduled flights may be cancelled in the coming days.

Some New York lawmakers are calling for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s impeachment after reports late Thursday that his top aides altered a state Health Department report to omit the true number of people killed by COVID-19 in the state’s nursing homes. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, citing documents and people with knowledge of the administration’s internal discussions, reported that aides including secretary to the governor Melissa DeRosa pushed state health officials to edit the July report so only residents who died inside long-term care facilities, and not those who became ill there and later died at a hospital, were counted.

In a worrying trend, 12 seniors, all from the same nursing home in Be’er Sheva, tested positive for having contracted COVID-19, even after they were well past their second dose of the vaccine. The seniors were all tested and found to be positive after one of the nurses fell ill with the virus. None of the seniors who tested positive had any symptoms of the disease. The Health Ministry is conducting testing in order to ascertain whether or not the version of the disease that the people contracted is one of the mutations or the regular strain. At this time it appears that the vaccine has helped these seniors fight off the disease to the point that none of them have any symptoms whatsoever. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the head of the Health Ministry’s Public Health division, warned about a rise in seriously ill young coronavirus patients in the Chareidi sector, Kikar H’Shabbos reported on Thursday. Dr. Alroy Preis’s warning comes on the background of a lower vaccination rate in the Chareidi sector than that of the general population. “We would very much like to see an increase in the vaccination rate in the Chareidi sector,” Alroy-Preis said. “Twenty percent of Chareidim aged 50 and older still haven’t been vaccinated, in comparison to 5-6% of those above 50 in the general population.