States are spending billions of dollars stocking up on medical supplies such as masks and breathing machines during the coronavirus pandemic. But more than two months into the buying binge, many aren’t sharing details about how much they’re spending, what they’re getting for their money or which companies they’re paying. An Associated Press survey of all 50 states found a hodgepodge of public information about the purchase of masks, gloves, gowns and other hard-to-get equipment for medical and emergency workers. Illinois has one of the most detailed tracking websites, showing the date, vendor, purpose, quantity and price of each purchase. In most states, it’s not that easy.

Dr. Meshulam Hart is a well-known and respected pediatrician in Bnei Brak and is also considered the doctor of gedolei Yisrael. In the last month and a half, Dr. Hart has become known as the address for any medical information related to the coronavirus, B’Chadrei Chareidim reported. He was also asked by the Gedolei Hador to advise yeshivas and Talmudei Torah and ganim how to safely re-open and has published instructions on this topic for the public. Since the coronavirus pandemic began spreading around the world, Dr. Hart has been receiving thousands of telephone calls every day from all over Israel and the world asking for his advice. In light of how incredibly busy Dr. Hart has been in recent weeks, he asked HaRav Chaim Kanievsky a unique shaila.

Struggling Brussels Airlines will restart commercial flights next month with a significantly downsized summer schedule following a 12-week interruption due to the coronavirus. The company said in a statement Monday it will restart flying operations on June 15, and plans to reach 59 destinations in 33 countries in Europe, Africa and the U.S. by August. Hard-hit by the crisis, the Lufthansa subsidiary announced earlier this month it is planning to cut a quarter of its workforce as part of a cost-cutting plan. The company, which employs 4,000 people, has like many airlines suspended flights as a result of the pandemic. It said it is losing 1 million euros ($1.1 million) a day because of revenue losses, aircraft leasing and maintenance costs, and has asked the government for support.

In an effort to assist communities celebrating the holiday of Shavuos at home, the Orthodox Union, the nation’s oldest and largest umbrella organization for the North American Orthodox Jewish community, has created a unique online pre-Shavuos Torah learning platform. “Sinai At Home” will offer learning resources from world renowned Torah scholars on a variety of Torah topics with the aim of empowering people to learn at a high level on their own or with their families. The holiday of Shavuos is normally celebrated with all-night learning in shuls and batei midrash, either shiurim or chavrusas.

The World Health Organization said Monday that it will temporarily drop hydroxychloroquine — the anti-malarial drug U.S. President Trump says he is taking — from its global study into experimental COVID-19 treatments, saying that its experts need to review all available evidence to date. In a press briefing, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that in light of a paper published last week in the Lancet that showed people taking hydroxychloroquine were at higher risk of death and heart problems, there would be “a temporary pause” on the hydroxychloroquine arm of its global clinical trial.

President Donald Trump honored America’s fallen service members on Monday as he commemorated Memorial Day in back-to-back appearances in the midst of the pandemic. “Together we will vanquish the virus and America will rise from this crisis to new and even greater heights,” Trump said during a ceremony at Baltimore’s historic Fort McHenry. “No obstacle, no challenge and no threat is a match for the sheer determination of the American people.” Earlier, Trump silently honored the nation’s war dead at a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, which like Fort McHenry is currently off limits to the public because of the pandemic. Presidents on Memorial Day typically lay a wreath and speak at the hallowed burial ground in Virginia.

A kindergarten teacher in Jerusalem was diagnosed with the coronavirus on Sunday, forcing about 60 children from five kindergartens which she visited to enter quarantine, an Army Radio report said. In Sanhedria Murchevet, a kindergarten assistant in the Chachmas Shlomo cheder was diagnosed with the coronavirus, forcing other staff members and two groups of kindergartners, each with 15 children, into quarantine. The assistant had worn a mask while working with the children, as required by health ministry regulations. In Modiin Illit, yeshivah bochurim from a specific shiur were sent home after the son of a rebbe in the yeshivah was diagnosed with the coronavirus. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Kashrus Alert

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We are grief-stricken with this immeasurable tragedy. Mrs. Baila Rivka Mertzbach nee Uhr a”h A young mother from Monsey, with no prior medical conditions, has tragically succumbed to the coronavirus. She left behind a family of 11 children with the youngest just 1 year old. This tragedy has shaken us to the core. The children have been left shattered, lost, and bereft of their mother’s love and warm care. “How will we survive the excruciating pain of living without Mommy?” her family is weeping.

Senior officials from the Health Ministry, the National Security Council and Home Front Command toured Ben-Gurion Airport on Monday morning in anticipation of a return to the normal operation of commercial flights to Israel and its subsequent positive effect on the economy. However, according to Shmuel Zakai, the CEO of Ben-Gurion, normal operations of flights won’t begin before July. “None of us wants infections to break out in Israel again and we all know that the virus came to Israel by air,” Zakai said. “According to the current pace, we’ll have dozens of flights to Ben-Gurion in mid-July and not before, maybe half a million passengers by then or in mid-September.

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