Dear Friend,

With Covid-19 case numbers on the rise again, we feel compelled, as members of the Bikur Cholim leadership team, to reach out and share our thoughts regarding the current situation. Jewish Cleveland can and should take an active role in preserving the health of our community.

As Yidden, we have long enjoyed certain freedoms, including davening in shuls and celebrating Yomim Tovim with family and friends.

Covid-19 threatens these very freedoms.

We see the vaccines as one of the strongest deterrents we have to curb the current spike in cases and to reduce hospitalizations and loss of life. Acting now may also help prevent the development of future variants and additional suffering.

The vaccines, which were developed using accepted scientific methods and have been endorsed by the FDA and CDC, have been proven safe and effective. Halacha obligates us to embrace established scientific practices that contribute to the well-being of all. It is considered a mitzvah to get vaccinated. This is supported by Gedolim and Rabbonim who guide Bikur Cholim in their activities.

We know these are difficult and stressful times for our community, and we want to remind you that Bikur Cholim is here for you to ease your healthcare burden.

K’Siva V’Chasmia Tova,

Boruch Hirschfeld
Rabbi, Congregation Ahavas Yisroel
Rabbinic Advisor, Bikur Cholim of Cleveland

Michael (Meir) Pollack, MD
President, Bikur Cholim of Cleveland

The CDC today issued updated guidelines on wearing masks outdoors. Fully vaccinated people no longer have to wear masks outdoors when in small groups, exercising, or dining.

But the C.D.C. is maintaining advice on other safety measures, saying [Read more…]

Summary:

The two agencies have determined the following:

• Use of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine should be resumed in the United States.
• The FDA and CDC have confidence that this vaccine is safe and effective in preventing COVID-19.
• The FDA has determined that the available data show that the vaccine’s known and potential benefits outweigh its known and potential risks in individuals 18 years of age and older.
• At this time, the available data suggest that the chance of TTS occurring is very low, but the FDA and CDC will remain vigilant in continuing to investigate this risk.
• Health care providers administering the vaccine and vaccine recipients or caregivers should review the  Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers Administering Vaccine (Vaccination Providers) and Fact Sheet for Recipients and Caregivers, which have been revised to include information about the risk of this syndrome, which has occurred in a very small number of people who have received the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine.

[Read more…]

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted provided an update on Ohio’s vaccination plans following this morning’s decision to pause the administration of the Johnson and Johnson (Janssen) vaccine.

The majority of the Ohio’s Johnson and Johnson doses were [Read more…]

Our local CVS stores (Cedar/Green, Cedar/Lee) have opened up lots of appointments for COVID vaccinations. You can book appointments for as soon as tomorrow and up to 4 days ahead. At the same time you will book the 2nd shot for 3 weeks later (Pfizer).  Anyone age 16 and up is eligible. You will need your insurance and prescription cards handy when you book the appointments.

Get started at: https://www.cvs.com/vaccine/intake/store/covid-screener/covid-qns

Jordan and I want to express our tremendous hakoras hatov to Cleveland’s unbelievable Jewish community for davening for our son, Chaim Shmuel Dovid hakohen ben Tikvah Leah, Shmuel Schottenstein, for weeks on end.  Hashem has listened to all of our tefilos and I wanted to update you on his condition. B”H he is out of the COVID ICU and in the regular ICU. He was on an ECMO machine for about 6 weeks, a machine that pumps his blood and breathes for him so his lungs and body could rest and heal. They took him off the ecmo last Motza’ai Shabbos.  He still has a trache and they’re slowly weaning him off it and all the sedation he has been on.  Yesterday and today were the first days that he has begun to respond by blinking, moving his mouth, moving his head, and squeezing my daughter in law’s hand.  He’s still in a lot of pain and will have to undergo extensive rehab but B”H we are finally seeing some improvement.

We ask that you still take out a few minutes of your time to daven for him as he still needs many refuos and yeshuos.  If you want to join the Tehillim WhatsApp you can join on https://chat.whatsapp.com/Lmlaca2NOB60OWFXqU2mbs.

IY”H with our constant tefilos Hashem should give him a refuah shlaima bimheirah and return him to his wife and children.

FEMA will begin accepting applications for Funeral Assistance on Monday, April 12, 2021 through our dedicated call center. More information will be available on this page soon.

To be eligible for funeral assistance, you must meet these conditions:

• The death must have occurred in the United States, including the U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia.
• The death certificate must indicate the death was attributed to COVID-19.
• The applicant must be a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national, or qualified alien who incurred funeral expenses after January 20, 2020.
• There is no requirement for the deceased person to have been a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national, or qualified alien.

More information at https://www.fema.gov/disasters/coronavirus/economic/funeral-assistance

by Ira B Taub MD, FAAP, FACC

My name is Ira Taub and I am a pediatrician who specializes in heart disease in the young. I am writing to inform the community about a COVID19 related condition called Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). This condition, first [Read more…]

In my last post, my COVID-19 vaccine advice was to chill. Only health care workers and the highest risk group were eligible to be vaccinated and for them the choice was easy. Others had the luxury of [Read more…]

Thanks to a sustained decrease in #COVID19 hospitalizations, Ohio’s curfew has been lifted. If hospitalizations begin rising again, @OhioDeptofHealth may reinstate it. It’s crucial that we all continue safety protocols to #SlowTheSpread and prevent hospitalizations from going up.

From twitter.com/GovMikeDeWine

Next week, Ohioans with certain conditions they were born with or those who were diagnosed in childhood and carried into adulthood will be able to begin receiving #COVID19 vaccines. Individuals with these conditions face a significantly higher risk for adverse COVID-19 outcomes.

Visit coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/covid-19-vaccination-program for more information on the vaccine rollout.

If you are 75 years or older AND have received some sort of care from MetroHealth in the past 2 years,

please call for an appointment at 216-778-6100 or schedule on MyChart at https://mychart.metrohealth.org/MyChart/Authentication/Login.

You must have an appointment to receive the vaccination. The vaccines will be given at MetroHealth in Severance Circle, Cleveland Heights.

If you’d like your writing to be published in Local Jewish News, please email info@localjewishnews.com.

The COVID-19 vaccine is on a lot of people’s minds. With the aid of new technology, an entire world at work with resources on a scale almost inconceivable (including $10B from the US Government), with the world’s greatest minds working on it day and night and lots of cutting of bureaucratic red tape, the first two vaccines are in use in record time.

Many are unsure what they should do – vaccinate or not? I have a simple answer for most of you. Chill. Seriously, there’s no need for most people to make this decision now because so few of you can get it now. For our health care workers and nursing home residents who can get the vaccine now (or very soon) the answer is simple due to their very high risk. The two very similar vaccines have been given in two doses to about 35,000 people in trials. Another 35,000 received placebo (saltwater). Vaccination reduces cases of symptomatic COVID-19 by an amazing 95%. Side-effects were minimal. Nobody died from the vaccine. There were a small number of allergic reactions, as is normal with vaccines. However, it seems to be less frequent with [Read more…]

A group of local physicians was very concerned by the post concerning the COVID-19 vaccine that was published in the Local Jewish News Tuesday morning. We approached Dr. Michael Lederman, who has spent his entire career in the study of virology and immunology and is one of the foremost experts in this area, for his thoughts. They appear, unedited, below. He is Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals/Case Medical Center where he is also Professor of Biomedical Ethics, Pathology, Microbiology and Molecular Biology. He is a member of the Association of American Physicians, the American Association of Immunologists, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and is a Fellow of the American Association of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is editor in chief of the scientific journal Pathogens and Immunity.

A number of local physicians have approached me and asked me what I thought of Dr. Eli Fink’s piece on COVID-19 vaccines in the December 7 Local Jewish News. I took a look at it and sadly, it is loaded with misinformation reflective of a poor understanding of immunity and cell biology. Here’s the scoop: While Dr. Fink is correct that the messenger RNA platform is new for vaccines, messenger RNA doesn’t do anything that he says it does. It doesn’t last long in cells as all messenger RNAs are designed to degrade. It is completely incapable of inserting itself into our own DNA as our cells don’t have the enzymes that are needed to make this happen. Dr. Fink goes on to tell us that viral infections trigger autoimmunity by getting their genes translated into our cells’ DNA. Utter nonsense! Messenger RNAs are not translated into DNA, they are translated into proteins – that’s how these vaccines work!

COVID-19 has killed nearly 300,000 Americans to date and will kill plenty more before this is all over. It’s true that most deaths are among the elderly but even infants have died of COVID-19. These RNA vaccines work, cutting down infection risk and serious disease by 90% or more. Dr Fink says we don’t know yet that these vaccines decrease transmission of the virus. Well maybe he doesn’t know it for sure but based on how these vaccines work, I would wager his life that immunization decreases transmission of the virus. If you choose to believe Dr. Fink’s nonsense, you’ll be wagering your life too!

Michael M. Lederman MD
Professor of Medicine
Professor of Microbiology/Molecular Biology, Pathology and Biomedical Ethics
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

State curfew begins tonight at 10 p.m. The state curfew will be from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily for the next 21 days.

The curfew will not apply to those going to or from work, those who have an emergency, or those who need medical care. The curfew is not intended to stop anyone from getting groceries or going to a pharmacy. Picking up carry-out or a drive-thru meal and ordering for delivery will be permitted, but serving food and drink in person must cease at 10 p.m.