Yeshiva University student and family test positive for coronavirus

Among the latest coronavirus cases discovered in the U.S. is a student at Yeshiva University, which subsequently announced it’s cancelling classes.

By Associated Press

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that the wife, two children and a neighbor of a New York lawyer who is hospitalized in critical condition with COVID-19 (coronavirus) have also tested positive for the disease.

That increases the number of confirmed cases in the state to six.

Yeshiva University, where one of the children is a student, said it’s canceling classes at the upper Manhattan campus where he is enrolled.

The positive test results for the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 came one day after Cuomo announced that the student’s father had become the second coronavirus case in New York state. The family has been quarantined at home in suburban Westchester County. The neighbor is also self-quarantined at home.

A U.S. health official also announced six new cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Los Angeles County, where there was one previously.

Each case confirmed Tuesday night was due to a known exposure and not the result of community transmission, according to Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the county Department of Public Health. She spoke at a press conference on Wednesday.

She says one person has been hospitalized and five others were in self-quarantine at home.

The country’s first case was in January, a person who lived in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak. She says that person is no longer infectious.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is urging Israelis to stop shaking hands in light of growing concerns over the coronavirus.

At a press conference Wednesday announcing new steps to deal with the virus, Netanyahu stressed the need for personal hygiene.

He also added additional European countries to a list of destinations from which returning Israelis would need to self-quarantine for two weeks.

Israel’s chief rabbi urged people to refrain from kissing mezuzot, small items encasing a prayer scroll posted by Jews on doorposts. Jews typically touch the item and then kiss their hands when walking through a doorway. Chief Rabbi David Lau made the call in a letter Wednesday.