25 Nissan 5780 / April 19, 2020
To all members of our Lakewood kehillah,
COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has led to disruption of life and to terrible illness and death in our community. The most vulnerable group of patients are those over 60, but some young adults have been severely affected as well. There have been close to 50 deaths from our community and we still have tens of patients on ventilators in the intensive care units at area hospitals.
We believe that we are NOT at a point where social distancing can be relaxed yet AT ALL. There is no safe way to gather together (due to aerosolized respiratory droplets). It is not safe to share items between households. Visiting different households, even among family members, cannot occur yet.
Our response to this pandemic needs to be responsible. Our lives and the lives of our loved ones are at stake. Please note:
• COVID-19 is often spread by asymptomatic carriers, i.e., people who have NO symptoms but spread respiratory droplets full of virus to others via regular social contact (speaking within close proximity of one another, touching each other).
• Unlike many other infectious diseases, spreading the virus may occur several days before
people develop symptoms of illness, i.e., someone who first develops symptoms on Thursday may have been spreading virus to many people on the previous Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
• COVID-19 is much more contagious than we ever expected; 2.3 million people have already been documented to have this disease, but the numbers are probably much higher.
• COVID-19 remains on surfaces of items for up to 4 days (cardboard for 24 hours, wood and cloth for 2 days, metal and plastic for 3 days, and glass and paper money for 4 days).
• The bottoms of shoes can pick up virus and bring it into homes; this is especially important where children play on the floor.
• Although social distancing has been recommended as “6 feet apart,” recent data confirms that respiratory droplets with the virus travel 13 feet. The virus can even stay aerosolized in the air for up to 3 hours.
• A mask should be worn over your nose and mouth when you are grocery shopping; this will protect you, as well as protect others from your respiratory droplets.
• People who have had COVID-19 may be contagious for weeks, even after resolution of all symptoms and may not be immune. Hopefully, further studies and FDA approved, validated antibody testing will shed more light on this subject in the near future.
• Hydoxychloroquine has not emerged as the “cure” drug that some hoped it to be, but more data is needed to determine its appropriate use.
• Remdesivir, IL-6 inhibitors, and convalescent plasma are hopeful treatments that are being studied and may save lives, but we need to learn more about these treatments.
We are constantly learning more about this deadly virus and the data from yesterday may be irrelevant today. Every day brings new knowledge and we hope that the future will bring better treatments and mechanisms that can allow a return to a more normal life, BE”H.
Shalom Aharon Fenster MD,
Yaacov Zamel MD,
Neal Gittleman MD,
Daniel Roth MD,
Mordechai Tarlow MD,
Baruch Kassover MD,
Lawrence Shoner MD,
Yisrael Kadosh MD,
Jeffrey Kaminetzky MD,
Binyomin Greenberg MD,
Hillel Peltz DO,
Rabbi Sruli Fried, MSW on behalf of Chai Lifeline
Dr. Shimshi Zimmerman, Medical Director of Hatzolah of Central Jersey.
{Matzav.com}
Where’s Dr. Eilenberg?
a bitter mageifa it is although it does NOT reach the mageifa numbers in the teshuva seforim , rabbi akiva eiger… , even if 45 lakewood yidden were niftar R”L ( each one is an otzar no matter how old) deduct the avg niftarim in 6 weeks from say last year my guess 12-15 so the ratio is approx 1 /3000 ( assuming 90,000 yidden)
הושע נא נפש מבהלה
“Hydoxychloroquine has not emerged as the “cure” drug that some hoped it to be, but more data is needed to determine its appropriate use”
Every study so far either showed otherwise or was deliberately sabotaged (by using potent placebo’s or using a triple dosage to show adverse events).
The NIH knew its effectiveness as far back as 2005 here:
https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/1743-422X-2-69
Maybe it would be prudent for some that signed off on this letter to go back to their old occupation as MC in CHEMED or looking at peoples eyes…
Will yesterday’s approval of porch minyanim WITH SOCIAL DISTANCING ONLY, be rescinded? Fact is IF the minyan can occur where the mispelelim are on their own porches, thus maintaining social distancing, it SHOULD be okay. It CAN be done correctly!
Stamm to say no for the sake of saying no? Who gains from that other than the Soton?
According to CDC a healthcare provider is assumed not to be conatagious after at least 3 days (72 hours) have passed since recovery defined as resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and improvement in respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath); and, at least 7 days have passed since symptoms first appeared.
For all those looking for the source, here it is https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/return-to-work.html
After returning to work, HCP should:
Wear a facemask for source control at all times while in the healthcare facility until all symptoms are completely resolved or until 14 days after illness onset, whichever is longer. A facemask instead of a cloth face covering should be used by these HCP for source control during this time period while in the facility. After this time period, these HCP should revert to their facility policy regarding universal source control during the pandemic.
A facemask for source control does not replace the need to wear an N95 or higher-level respirator (or other recommended PPE) when indicated, including when caring for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.
Of note, N95 or other respirators with an exhaust valve might not provide source control.
Be restricted from contact with severely immunocompromised patients (e.g., transplant, hematology-oncology) until 14 days after illness onset
Self-monitor for symptoms, and seek re-evaluation from occupational health if respiratory symptoms recur or worsen
It’s not stamm saying no. We don’t know much about this virus yet and how far it can be transmitted. People are carriers and can be positive , show no symptoms themselves yet can infect and murder others who are vulnerable.
Do not gamble with other people’s lives because you don’t know the effects. People are suffering and dying and it’s an emergency. Don’t look for frum pshetels now. Don’t gamble with my life and my loved ones.
Hydroxychloroquine HAS very clearly been proven to be a miracle cure,when taken in conjunction with zinc and azithromycin. The statistics from KJ, where DR. Zelenko has been prescribing this combination, show that there has been 90% less intubations and deaths than other communities. The country of Brazil which has adopted Dr. Zelenkoś protocol has seen a 95% reduction in deaths. For more see this recent interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K7lnW9_xnw
Fact is, while itś not been clinically proven, anecdotal data has strongly suggested hydroxychloroquine as a cure.
Residents Have Maintained Highest Level of Lockdown in the State
How is this sheker the headline…
Why did they throw in the words “due to aerosolized respiratory droplets”, when that is against current medical consensus? If these aerosolized respiratory droplets do exist, then surgical masks are pointless.
Sharing items between households is equivalent to getting anything from grocery store. If you think it’s an issue, you sanitize everything that comes into house. This is a relatively easy pathogen to kill.
They should have learnt from the CDC that honesty is the best policy. When you lie about masks being useless, you lose your credibility. If they push agendas that do not have a medical logic or across the board application, people will not believe anything they recommend.