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Battling COVID: Weekly Update

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

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A ward at the Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod for people infected with the coronavirus, March 16, 2020 (Flash90)

Hospital says ‘high probability’ fetus died of virus, in 1st such case in Israel

Fetus infected via mother’s placenta; 25-week-pregnant woman had symptoms, went to hospital after realizing there was no fetal movement

Medical workers in the COVID-19 ward of Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem, February 3, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

More younger Israelis now being hospitalized for COVID than those 60-plus

A young Israeli receives a COVID-19 vaccine injection at a vaccination center in Jerusalem, on February 10, 2021.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Top health official says ‘buzz’ that young people are not vaccinating is wrong

Yair Tayeb, a patient who recovered from COVID-19 at Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, February 9, 2021 (Channel 13 screenshot)

Feeling better ‘in 2 hours’: COVID drug for critically ill starts Phase 3 trials

Experimental Israeli-made drug Allocetra, developed at Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital, being used to treat so-called cytokine storm, whereby immune system attacks body’s own organs

Illustrative image: lungs infected by the coronavirus (wildpixel via iStock by Getty Images)

Israeli inventor of promising COVID drug hopes it can help vaccineless countries

By Nathan Jeffay

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro speaks at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, on February 9, 2021. (Evaristo Sa/AFP)

Brazil’s Bolsonaro seeks emergency use of Israeli anti-COVID nasal spray

By AFP and ToI Staff

Israelis walk in Jerusalem on February 15, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Israel to open stores, gyms and culture Sunday in major move toward normalcy

Many activities will only be available to those vaccinated or with negative virus tests; an app and certificates with barcode planned to make sure only the authorized gain access

An employee at a digital task force to counter "fake news" on the Internet works on a computer with a banner that reads in part: "wake up, the vaccination," in the Health Ministry office near Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

How Israel plans to operate a COVID ‘green pass,’ and prevent forgeries

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to Channel 12 News, February 15, 2021. (Screen capture/ Channel 12)

Netanyahu: If final 570,000 over 50 get vaccinated, we’ll be done with COVID

A man receives a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine during an event to encourage the vaccination of young Israelis at a vaccination center in Holon, Feb. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

With vaccination rates rising again, Israel set to pass 4 million first doses

Health minister says over 2,600,000 have received both shots, as cabinet agrees certain venues will only be open to the inoculated and recovered

Israelis play tennis on an empty road during lockdown, following the government's measures to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, Israel, April 9, 2020. (AP/ Oded Balilty)

Easing lockdown now is a ‘big mistake,’ one hospital chief warns

By Nathan Jeffay

Israelis exercise on the Tel Aviv beach boardwalk, during a nationwide COVID lockdown, February 3, 2021. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Israel’s gradual reopening, from February 21: What you need to know

Couple kissing at the light rail station on Jaffa Street in downtown Jerusalem on October 11, 2020 (Courtesy Nati Shohat/Flash 90)

Zoom me, maybe: Singles seeking love in a time of COVID find new ways to hook up

By Jessica Steinberg

It works: 0 deaths, only 4 severe cases among 523,000 fully vaccinated Israelis

By Nathan Jeffay

HMO data a week after 2nd dose shows 93% effectiveness, ‘unequivocally’ proving vaccine’s success and leaving ‘no doubt’ it’s saved many Israeli lives, says Maccabi official

A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine injection at Clalit COVID-19 vaccination center in Jerusalem, on February 8, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/ Flash90)

Israel’s largest HMO finds vaccines 92% effective in preventing serious illness

A vaccination center in Hod Hasharon, Israel, on February 2, 2021. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Vaccine reduces spread risk even before 2nd shot, Israeli study indicates

By Nathan Jeffay

Day 20: Why are we still not allowed back in Israel?

We’re vaccinated citizens willing to get coronavirus tests and isolate. Why can’t we come back home while hundreds of foreign athletes are invited in?

6 ways Jews can help Black economic development after the pandemic

For true racial equality and inclusion, we must address economic disparity – and to do that, we should listen to the wisdom of Maimonides

Facing another school reopening

Requiring (and enforcing!) masks and distancing would protect our children in school, so why are we either sending them back unprotected or keeping them home day after day?

Israel’s vaccination stagnation: Why we’ve caught it; how to cure it

With plenty of vaccines and efficient HMOs to deliver them, we could’ve been in the final stretch for 1st doses. Instead, doctors are reduced to imploring patients to get the shot

The Daily Briefing

Times of Israel Podcast

PODCAST: Daily Briefing, Feb. 11 — How to cure Israel’s COVID-infected economy

Tune in Sunday through Thursday to hear ToI editors and reporters quickly catch you up on what’s important today

The Daily Briefing

Times of Israel PodcastPODCAST: Daily Briefing, Feb. 10 — Good COVID news: Vaccine study, ‘wonder’ drug

Illustrative: Antibodies attacking a SARS-CoV-2 virus (Dr_Microbe;iStock by Getty Images)

Israeli study boosts belief post-COVID immunity stays when antibodies fade

By Nathan Jeffay

People wearing face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus ride in a subway train in Kyiv, Ukraine on Feb. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Worldwide coronavirus case count plunges by almost half in last month

By AFP

New infections now at lowest level since October; epidemic is picking up speed in Iraq; US still has highest number of new cases and new deaths

Illustrative: An image of a Symbicort budesonide inhaler for asthma. (Wikimedia Commons/One Salient Oversight)

Common asthma drug can reduce COVID hospitalizations by 90% — study

By ToI Staff and AFP

Analysis

Cathryn J. Prince

Grassroots Orthodox effort in NY helps bring antibody treatment into mainstream

In early 2020, donors recruited by the Covid Plasma Initiative supplied 50% of the nation’s plasma, also demonstrating the treatment’s efficacy and paving the way to widespread use

Andrew Yang announces his run for New York Mayor during a press conference in Morningside Park on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen).

NYC mayoral hopeful Yang backs hands-off approach to Orthodox yeshiva education

By Hannah Dreyfus

Thousands attend the funeral of an ultra-Orthodox rabbi in Jerusalem, January 31, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

1 in 73 ultra-Orthodox Israelis over 65 has died of COVID, report says

By JTA and ToI Staff

People work at a digital task force to counter "fake news" on the internet, in the Health Ministry office near Tel Aviv, February 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Analysis

ISAAC SCHARF and Ilan Ben Zion

Playing whack-a-mole with anti-vaxxers, Israel works to revitalize vaccine drive

Health ministry working with doctors, religious leaders to counter misinformation; expanding team monitors social media for fake news in Hebrew, Russian, Amharic, Arabic, English

Screen capture from video of Rabbi Yuval HaCohen Asherov speaking about the COVID-19 outbreak. (YouTube)

Health Ministry warns public not to listen to anti-vaxxer rabbi

An Israeli student receives a COVID-19 vaccine injection, at a Leumit vaccination center in Tel Aviv, on January 23, 2021. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Poll: Majority of Israeli parents unsure or will refuse to vaccinate kids

Yisrael Beytenu chair Avigdor Liberman visits in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod after clashes broke out between police and ultra-Orthodox Jews over lockdown violations, January 12, 2021. (Flash90)

Defending skeptic MK, Liberman claims ‘we don’t know anything about the vaccine’

Yisrael Beytenu chair draws rebuke for comments he made after party No. 4, Eli Avidar, said he wouldn’t be getting vaccinated because he wasn’t high risk

Anti-vaccination slogans and grafitti spray painted on walls of a vaccination center, January 5, 2021. (Yossi Aloni/FLASH90)

Health Ministry sets up team to fight fake news on vaccines

Illustrative: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish people attend a funeral in Jerusalem, October 12, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Vaccine misinformation blamed as 36-year-old ultra-Orthodox man dies of COVID

An Israeli woman using the HeraBEAT device, newly deployed at Sheba Medical Center (courtesy of Sheba Medical Center)

Hospital launches system to remotely monitor fetal health in COVID ward

By Nathan Jeffay

Sheba Medical Center protocol, which has expectant moms operating devices and sending data to docs, aims to address problem of providing close care to those in isolation

Parents accompany their children to kindergarten in Tel Aviv, on October 18, 2020. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Survey: Pandemic strengthened sibling bonds in Israel, hurt parents’ sex life

Patients diagnosed positive for COVID-19 who are hospitalized at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital coronavirus ward receive a visit from family members (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

New in Israel: Antibody doses for high-risk COVID cases straight after diagnosis

By Nathan Jeffay

Moshe Ponte, the chair of the Israel Judo Association meets Iranian dissident Saeid Mollaei at Ben Gurion Airport on February 14, 2021 (Screenshot: Channel 12)

Israelis grapple with massive judo tourney, held with skies still mostly closed

By ToI Staff and Stuart Winer

Amid criticism over risk posed by Tel Aviv Grand Slam contest, health minister says he is ‘personally’ hurt by footage of federation head shaking contestant’s bare hand

Israelis sit in Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv on February 15, 2021. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Gantz accuses Netanyahu of ‘vote-buying’ as ministers discuss lockdown exit

By Stuart Winer and ToI Staff

A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination centerl in Safed, on February 14, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Health Ministry said to mull vaccines for recovered COVID patients

(L to R) Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades elbow-bumps Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (mask-clad), during a joint press statement after their meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on February 14, 2021. (Marc Israel SELLEM / POOL / AFP)

Israel and Cyprus reach tourism deal for vaccinated travelers

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Agreement exempting immunized tourists from quarantine expected to go into effect April 1

The empty arrival hall at the Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv on February 3, 2021. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Israel to allow 2,000 travelers per day to enter country starting Saturday

Illustrative: Online search data. (HAKINMHAN via iStock by Getty Images)

Web search data and help from Israel mean England can catch COVID spikes early

By Nathan Jeffay

Some of the superspreaders behind COVID-19 conspiracy theories (AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)

Investigative report

David Klepper, Farnoush Amiri and Beatrice Dupuy

The superspreaders behind the most viral misinformation about COVID-19’s origins

From college profs with no training in virology to social media fakers to governments, a trail of explosive claims sorely lacking in evidence

In this Feb. 7, 2020 file photo, people wearing masks attend a vigil for Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, in Hong Kong. The outpouring of grief and rage sparked by Li's death was an unusual - and for the Chinese Communist Party, unsettling - display in China's tightly monitored civic space. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

Investigative reportChina wasn’t alone, but it took lead role spreading lies about COVID’s origins

By Erika Kinetz

Rabbi Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik attends an event in Jerusalem on August 10, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Analysis

A year of grief: Orthodox Jewry reels as COVID-19 hastens the loss of its rabbis

The relentless deaths have hit all sides of the diverse community, leaving many to wonder who can possibly step up to fill their fallen leaders’ shoes

Rabbi Bieberfeld is administered a dose of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine at an event to encourage vaccine uptake in Britain's Haredi Orthodox Jewish community at the John Scott Vaccination Centre in London, February 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Ultra-Orthodox Londoners roll up sleeves to fight COVID

By DANICA KIRKA

Illustrative: People hold up placards and Union flags as they gather for a demonstration organized by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism outside the head office of the British opposition Labour Party in central London on April 8, 2018. (AFP/Tolga Akmen)

Despite COVID lockdowns, only slight drop in anti-Semitic incidents in Britain

By Cnaan Liphshiz

More Headlines

Sister Andre, Lucile Randon in the registry of birth, the eldest French and European citizen, prays in a wheelchair, on the eve of her 117th birthday - born on February 11, 1904 ( NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP)

French nun, Europe’s oldest person, turns 117 after surviving COVID-19

By AFP

Members of Gaza's Central Elections Commission's field team register a local woman to the electoral roll, at the main road of Gaza City, February 10, 2021 (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Knesset debates Palestinian request to allow COVID vaccines into Gaza

By Aaron Boxerman

The German chapter of the Grandmothers Against The Right group posted about the flyer on Instagram. (Grandmothers Against The Right/Instagram via JTA)

Flyers in German tram blame Jews for pandemic

Palestinian Muslims resume praying outside the Dome of the Rock Mosque in Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosques compound on February 12, 2021, following a 45-day pause due to COVID-19 restrictions. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

15,000 Muslim worshipers pack Temple Mount in defiance of COVID restrictions

Illustrative: A medical team at a coronavirus ward of the Sheba Medical Center, in Ramat Gan, July 27, 2020. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)

As case numbers drop, Israel’s largest hospital closes 2 coronavirus wards

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, January 21, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Dr. Anthony Fauci wins Israel’s prestigious $1m. Dan David Prize for 2021

By Laurie Kellman

A box containing vials of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at the Foch hospital in Suresnes, on the start of a vaccination campaign for health workers with the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, February 6, 2021. (Alain JOCARD / AFP)

WHO approves AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

By AP

Ketem, in better times. (Courtesy, Moran Ajami)

Post-lockdown outing ends in poisoning deaths of pet dogs

Illustrative: Medical staff in the coronavirus ward of Ziv Medical Center in the northern Israeli city of Safed, on February 4, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)

COVID patients on ECMO machines reach record 52, passing ‘blackest’ prediction

Illustrative: A pharmacist prepares a syringe of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine Friday, Jan. 8, 2021, in Seattle. (AP/Ted S. Warren)

Doctor censured for suggesting vaccine ‘psychosis’ led husband to murder wife

A mobile vaccination center in the Shokeda forest on February 13, 2020 (Courtesy Magen David Adom)

Natural immunityMobile vaccination unit inoculates Israelis on forest stroll

Erik Lamela (L) of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the UEFA Europa League qualifying round match between Shkendija and Tottenham Hotspur at Philip II Arena in Skopje, Macedonia, on September 24, 2020. (Robert Atanasovski/AFP)

Vaccination champ Israel hopes to host major European soccer matches

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