The First Night of Passover in the Time of Coronavirus
Tonight is the start of Passover, a Jewish holiday that has been observed for hundreds of years. But as COVID-19 continues to upend lives throughout the world, traditions have had to adapt. Traditions such as Passover seders and Easter masses will be very different this year as many states and countries around the world practice social distancing. This is the first time in roughly 50 years that TIME senior editor Lori Fradkin’s 89-year-old grandmother, who she calls “Mamaw,” can’t host Passover.
“I know this Passover will not be easy for Mamaw,” Fradkin writes in a moving essay for TIME. “Loneliness intensifies on days when you are not supposed to be alone. But what I hope she can remember as she exchanges holiday greetings through screens is that the physical separation will help ensure future togetherness.”
Fradkin is Mamaw’s first grandchild, and the bond they have is special. After Fradkin’s essay was published, her family received responses from many in their community, even her family’s rabbi in Houston, who said the essay spoke to what many are dealing with.
There’s no question that canceling traditional Passover observances is the right thing to do, Fradkin says. Canceling now could mean more special moments in the future. Tonight, Fradkin will try to make the best of the situation for her kids. They’ll use puppets to recount the story of Moses and the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, and they’ll order matzah ball soup from an area deli. “We’re just trying to do our best here,” she says.
More than 1.4 million people in over 180 countries and territories around the world had been infected with COVID-19 as of Tuesday evening, and more than 81,000 lives have been lost to it.
Here is every country with over 10,000 confirmed cases, as of Tuesday night, 8 PM eastern time:
In China, the city of Wuhan has reopened after a nearly 11-week shutdown, writes TIME’s East Asia correspondent Charlie Campbell. As life begins to get back to normal, it could provide lessons for other world leaders to apply to their own hard-hit regions.
The reopening, however, is not exactly celebratory. Officials in hazmat suits are taking people’s temperatures on train-station platforms and skepticism surrounds the case numbers reported by the Chinese government. Many across the country are concerned that officials are putting public image and politics before public safety, Campbell reports.
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Tuesday that COVID-19 cases in the African continent have risen to more than 10,000, and deaths have surpassed 500. Though the disease was slow to hit Africa, infection has grown exponentially in recent weeks, according to the WHO, which urges the international community to extend technical and financial support to the African countries most impacted. As of Wednesday afternoon, South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Cameroon and Tunisia have each reported more than 500 cases of COVID-19, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
The Situation in the United States
The White House and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are considering loosening social distancing guidelines to permit non-symptomatic people to return to work even if they have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. The new guidance could be announced as early as today.
During a Tuesday press briefing at the White House, President Donald Trump told reporters that he would “put a hold” on funding to the WHO, but later backtracked and said it was something he was only considering. However, he continued to criticize the WHO’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, calling it “very China-centric.”
Meanwhile, in California—the state with the country’s largest homeless population—officials in Los Angeles are trying to secure 15,000 hotel rooms to house the homeless, who may be especially vulnerable to an outbreak. And billionaire Jack Dorsey, the CEO and co-founder of Twitter, announced Tuesday night he is devoting $1 billion of his stake in Square Inc. to help with COVID-19 relief efforts.
Earlier today, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo directed all state flags to be lowered to half-mast in honor of the thousands of people who have died from the virus in the state.
All numbers are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of April 7, 8 PM eastern time. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Millions of Newly Unemployed People Struggle to Obtain Stimulus Benefits
The ripple effects of COVID-19 have left an unprecedented amount of people out of work in the U.S., and despite the passing of the CARES Act on March 27, millions are still struggling to obtain stimulus benefits. Read more here.
COVID-19 Could Permanently Change Abortion Services
Five states—Texas, Ohio, Iowa, Alabama and Oklahoma—have taken steps to temporarily ban abortions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reproductive-rights advocates are used to fighting state laws and court battles to preserve abortion access. But this is different, writes TIME’s Abigail Abrams. Read more here.
Singer-songwriter John Prine Dies From Coronavirus at Age 73
Music legend John Prine died on April 7. He was a “resilient singer-songwriter who imbued his tales of American working-class life with both bleak despondence and uproarious wit,” writes TIME’s Andrew Chow. Read more here.
A Doctor Recalls Fighting Coronavirus on the Frontline in Wuhan
On Jan. 28, Dr. Liu traveled from Western China to the city of Wuhan, where the outbreak began, to assist in the burgeoning fight against an enemy the world knew very little about at the time. In his own words, Liu recounts his experience at the vanguard, and suggests lessons the rest of the world should learn from those early efforts to contain what would become a global pandemic. Read more here.
To Stop the Next Pandemic, Take Care of Nature
Some research suggests that “virus spillover risk” from wildlife to people increases as more natural habitats are destroyed. “We are messing with natural systems in certain ways that can make them much more dangerous than they would otherwise be,” one disease ecologist tells Bloomberg News. Read more here.
Inside a Funeral Home at the Epicenter of the U.S. Outbreak
The Washington Post takes a look at one funeral home in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens, the hardest-hit borough of the hardest-hit city in the U.S., where phones ring even before business is open. Read more here.
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