COVID-19 Biden’s new COVID adviser co-owns a popular DC ‘Jew-ish’ deli and bagel shop Shira Hanau
(JTA)—Jeff Zients, a former Obama economic adviser and a leader of the Biden transition team, will lead the new administration’s COVID-19 response. Zients is well known for his work as director of the National Economic Council and acting director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Obama years. Lesser known is his love of bagels and Jewish delis that led Zients to open a restaurant in Washington, D.C., in 2018 called Call Your Mother. The deli, which operates in four locations in the capital as well as a number of local farmer’s markets, specializes in wood-fired bagels and, according to the restaurant’s website, “‘Jew-ish‘ deli favorites.” The menu includes an assortment of bagels, smoked salmon, whitefish salad and black and white cookies. There’s even a sandwich named for Rabbi Shira Stutman of Sixth & I, a large D.C. synagogue, that includes hummus, pickled red onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and sumac radishes on a zaatar bagel.
Some of the recipe testing for the deli’s first location was done at Zients’ home, according to Washingtonian magazine. Zients was connected with Andrew Dana, the chef behind Call Your Mother and his business partner, through his father’s friend from summer camp. “Similar to me, he’s from this area and spent a lot of time in New York and has experienced a lot of the great deli culture in New York and wanted D.C. to be able to replicate that,” Dana told the monthly. According to the Washingtonian, Zients originally wanted to name the deli Apples and Honey. In his role with the Biden administration, Zients will coordinate the administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic alongside Vivek Murthy, who served as U.S. surgeon general for the Obama administration, and Marcella Nunez-Smith, currently a co-chair of Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board. During his years in the Obama administration, Zients helped to save the healthcare. gov website after a glitchy rollout in 2013.
Montreal Jewish nursing home hit hard by COVID infections in 2nd wave David Lazarus
VIRGINIA BEACH 757.498.1186 | LONGJEWELERS.NET
6 | JEWISH NEWS | December 14, 2020 | jewishnewsva.org
MONTREAL (JTA)—A prominent Jewish nursing home in Montreal has seen dozens of residents and staffers infected by COVID19 amid the second wave of the pandemic to hit Quebec. The virus has struck 40 residents and 22 staff members at the 600-bed Maimonides Geriatric Centre—the second highest number of cases among nursing homes in Quebec, according to data provided by the province. The public facility, in the predominantly Jewish suburb of Cote St. Luc, is suffering from acute staff shortages, the English language daily The Gazette reported Tuesday, obliging family members and hired companions to pitch in. The situation, similar to what occurred during the original onslaught of COVID19 in the spring, might be spiraling out of
control, some family members fear, according to The Gazette. Residents’ families sent a letter with their concerns to Quebec Health Minister Christian Dube noting that the smaller staff is forced to move between “hot” and “cold” zones at Maimonides. Joyce Shanks, whose 81-year-old father lives there, said that “more than 10% of the population is infected already and we are just at the beginning of the second wave.” In a note sent last month to residents’ families, the facility confirmed that four residents have died and 50 have been infected since the second wave began, including seven that have since recovered. In the spring, Maimonides also had one of the highest levels of COVID infections among nursing homes in Quebec. The province’s regional Integrated Health and Social Services University Network oversees the facility.
