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OUR WORLD COMES TO A HALT
Hundreds of people wait their turn at a COVID-19 testing station at UH Landerbrook Health Center in Mayfield Heights on March 18, the first day of testing at that location. | CJN Photo / Bob Jacob
BOB JACOB | MANAGING EDITOR @BobJacobCJN bjacob@cjn.org |
I
n unprecedented moves last week, some Shabbat services were canceled, some b’nai mitzvot were postponed, Jewish day schools were ordered closed for weeks, nursing homes took stringent measures, the Mandel Jewish Community Center shuttered, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland
had employees work remotely and synagogues shut their doors. Life as the 80,800 Jews of Northeast Ohio knew it suddenly came to a standstill. Like other parts of the United States and other countries around the world, Ohio is reeling from the effects of COVID-19, the highly contagious disease that was first identified last December in Wuhan, China, and last week was
declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. As of March 18, Ohio had 88 COVID-19 cases confirmed, Israel had 433, the U.S. had more than 7,000 and the world had more than 218,000. More than 8,900 people have died from it. Experts say those numbers will increase. On March 13, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency, which allowed millions of dollars to be
made immediately available across the country to states. The impact of COVID-19 has been devastating across the Jewish community of Northeast Ohio. While some employees are still working in their offices, many are working remotely. Shopping plazas, libraries, community centers and other
MORE ON COVID-19 • Cleveland Clinic using telehealth to diagnose patients. Page 4 • Nursing homes add precautions. Page 8 • Funeral homes only conducting graveside services. Page 10 • UH’s Simon says anti-viral clinical trials may begin soon. Page 11
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Stay up-to-date on the pandemic at cjn.org/ coronavirus