After ignoring warnings, Israeli ultra-Orthodox hit by virus
BNEI BRAK, Israel (AP) — Early this week, the streets of the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak were bustling with shoppers as ultra-Orthodox residents, obeying their religious leaders, ignored pleas to stay home in the face of the coronavirus threat.
By Friday, Bnei Brak had become the country’ worst hot spot and now resembles a ghost town. One expert estimated that nearly 40% of the city’s population might already have been infected.
hold muh beer!
WVa allows beer, wine home deliveries during virus outbreak
100,000 tourists stuck in New Zealand to leave as rules ease
The German Embassy in Wellington last week said that more than 12,000 tourists had signed up for its repatriation program, in which the German government is chartering flights, mostly from Air New Zealand.
British High Commissioner Laura Clarke said 10,000 British tourists had registered with her office wanting to return home..
...While most of the stranded tourists are from the U.K. and Europe, officials said about 2,700 tourists from Asia and 3,800 from North and South America combined had also signed up to be repatriated....
...American tourist Lisa Horvath told RNZ that the news she would soon be able to return home and see her dog had come as a huge relief. She said she could now enjoy her walks in New Zealand, which are allowed under the lockdown rules.
“I feel like I can enjoy those places instead of resenting being here, which is kind of the space that I was getting in emotionally,” she said. “I was so desperate to find out when I was getting home.”
Ricketts defends not ordering shelter-in-place in Nebraska
...The governor has taken a regional approach as well, ordering bans on 10-person gatherings and forcing restaurants to close their dining rooms in areas where confirmed cases of the virus can’t be traced. Those bans are now in place in 56 of Nebraska’s 93 counties, accounting for well over two-thirds of the state’s population and virtually all of its population centers.
...Ricketts, a former executive at TD Ameritrade, said forcing businesses to shutter when they can still safely operate won’t necessarily keep the virus from spreading, particularly if companies are able to keep their workers separated. He said he expects confirmed cases to increase over the next several weeks as more people are tested, but he doesn’t anticipate the same sharp jumps as other states.
He also argued that Nebraska has had more time to prepare …
Nebraska: 246 cases, up 32; 5 deaths
Late word is that the entire town of Bnei Brak has been quarantined.