ToI’s COVID-19 update: Clinical trials start * Vanishing antibodies don’t mean mass reinfection * US Orthodox doctors battle virus & disinformat ion * Suicide calls double

[Times of Israel]( [Battling COVID: Weekly Update]( Tuesday, November 3, 2020 [‘I feel great’: Israel’s first vaccine volunteer heads home from the hospital]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [24 hours after receiving the first dose at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Segev Harel is discharged, hopes ‘we will bring the vaccine to Israel and to the whole world’]( [First 2 volunteers injected with Israeli virus vaccine, kicking off human trials]( By [TOI staff]( [Volunteer to receive 1st Israeli vaccine shot hails ‘historic opportunity’]( By [Nathan Jeffay and TOI staff]( Explainer [Nathan Jeffay]( [COVID-19 antibodies vanish fast. That doesn’t mean mass reinfection looms]( [Experts say disappearing antibodies don’t spell the end of immunity, following seemingly alarming British study]( inside story [Shira Hanau]( [A cure for ignorance? US Orthodox doctors battle both COVID and disinformation]( [With coronavirus increasingly politicized and amid shifting recommendations, physicians find themselves struggling to maintain their communities’ trust in medical professionals]( [Schools in NY Orthodox neighborhoods can reopen under new testing plan]( By [Shira Hanau]( [Senior Satmar rabbi denounces Brooklyn anti-lockdown rallies]( By [Shira Hanau]( [Israeli experts make global stink over coronavirus surviving in treated sewage]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Researchers issue call for sewage plants worldwide to disinfect wastewater, lest pumping it into natural water sources lead to infections among animals or humans]( ToI Community Exclusive [Israel Unlocked: Powerful online journeys that support Israeli tourism]( [Join the ToI Community to access our exclusive virtual tours series – and support Israeli tourism at this difficult time]( from the blogs [Michal Cotler-Wunsh]( [Alone in a pandemic: Immigrants in Israel need to see loved ones]( [The restrictions on visits from abroad are too narrow for the varied needs of olim. I’m working to change that.]( [Leading Hasidic rabbi denounces ‘Jews who snitch’ over violations of virus rules]( By [TOI staff]( [Vizhnitz Rabbi Yisroel Hager says closure of ultra-Orthodox schools caused ‘unbearable spiritual and material damage,’ vows they won’t be shuttered again]( [‘Nobody here is crazy’: Top rabbi’s grandson defends continuing study amid COVID]( By [Ben Simon]( [Pandemic of loneliness, anxiety: Crisis hotline says suicide calls have doubled]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Over 12,000 packed onto Temple Mount for Friday prayers, with little enforcement]( By [TOI staff]( [Police reject accusations from Jerusalem municipality that they turned blind eye to mass crowding at flashpoint holy site]( [Defying restrictions, thousands hold funeral for Druze leader who died of COVID]( By [TOI staff]( [Followers of Druze sheikh snatch his body from hospital to hold mass funeral]( By [TOI staff]( [Israel virus cases up, positive test rate falls; jail says 65 prisoners infected]( By [TOI staff]( [Health Ministry figures show 774 new cases with a 2.3% positivity rate on Monday as testing levels also increase; dozens of inmates at Gilboa Prison confirmed to have coronavirus]( [School is back in session for grades 1-4 as lockdown eased; synagogues reopen]( By [TOI staff]( [Knesset vote on higher fines for virus violations stalled amid Haredi opposition]( By [Stuart Winer and TOI staff]( [As virus cases rise, task force warns downward trend in infections may be over]( By [TOI staff]( Analysis [Haviv Rettig Gur]( [In pandemic’s shadow, health coverage decisions move from doctors to politicians]( [Netanyahu and Gantz’s refusal to pass a state budget means the expert committee that chooses which new treatments to add to the national insurance plan cannot do its job]( [CRM]( More Headlines [The Brighter Side / Alyn riders keep wheels close to home as rehab hospital renovates for COVID-19]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( [Health Ministry announces Israeli-developed faster PCR tests for virus diagnosis]( By [TOI staff]( [Virus quarantine to be shortened from 14 to 12 days, health minister says]( By [TOI staff]( [Outgoing coronavirus czar calls for mass testing in Arab communities]( By [TOI staff]( [Israeli study finds paying off debt, not spending, is main use of stimulus cash]( By [TOI staff]( [Online forums for anti-vaxxers are ‘hotbeds’ of anti-Semitism, UK report finds]( By [Cnaan Liphshiz]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( Email not displaying correctly? [View in browser]( © 2020 The Times Of Israel, All Rights Reserved