Wednesday March 3 News Updates Lakewood

 Weather: Abundant sunshine. High 52F

- 100 New covid cases in Lakewood +2 deaths totals 12537/281

-Food Distribution:

-Bnos Esther Malka Shabbos box 7:00 pm

-Tehilas Chaya Sara 7 day box for all children under 18 who are not receiving school meals, TONIGHT at 8:30PM. 1115 Cross Street

-OTL box at SCHI 7:00 PM Center on Prospect 7:00 pm

-Belz school on Chestnut 5:45 pm

-Gelbsteins 3:30pm - 5:15 pm at Middle School & Clifton Ave Grade School 

-Murphy: Wedding receptions may proceed at: 35% of a venue’s indoor capacity up to 150 persons Up to 150 people outdoors

-Sleepaway camps will be able to safely resume their operations this summer.

-Lakewood Rita’s will offer free ice to any EMS, Lakewood Hatzolah, and Bikur Cholim volunteers and their immediate families.

-Jackson Rita’s located on County Line Road is expected to open this Thursday. See photos of opening yesterday at Matzav

-The 1.6 mile walking path around the Brick Township Reservoir will reopen on March 17, after having been closed the past year The reservoir will be open Wednesdays through Sundays from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Only the north entrance and parking lot on Sally Ike Road at the Wall border will be open.

-Ami Magazine current issue interviews talk radio host, Mark Levin.  Mark shares his remarkable life story, from his upbringing as a Jewish kid in Philadelphia to his relationship with Donald Trump

- CHEMED Health are cancelling today's scheduled walk-in vaccination event for seniors after hundreds of people showed up on Tuesday, causing disruptions to local businesses and their regular operations. 850 seniors received a vaccination shot today. (reporter Shlomo Schorr)

-Excerpts of a pre purim covid update from a local pediatric practice: The new strain is now more contagious than ever...COVID-19 illness is spreading rapidly within our community and infecting people who have so far escaped infection. Women and children who have not yet been infected are the majority of new cases. Although fewer in number, men are also getting infected for the first time. We now have entered what appears to be a second phase, where the virus that is dominantly spreading is a new strain which infects people more easily and spreads more rapidly. The strain that is dominant in Lakewood right now is known as the British Variant. There are other strains that are dominant in other parts of the world. They also have the same mutation (change) as the British Variant that allows them to infect people more easily. However, some have an additional mutation that causes the virus to be able to repel the antibodies that a person develops after being infected by the original COVID-19 virus. — antibody-evading strains of the COVID-19 virus are infecting people around the world. There is reason for concern.

- Lakewood teachers union says the teacher who infected others with covid  could have just as easily contracted COVID at school or in the community, district officials said the 8 teachers dined out and got infected off site.

- WHO panel issues strong advice against hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 cause the drug has no meaningful effect on deaths or hospitalizations due to coronavirus and it may even increase the risk of adverse effects.

-Six Dr. Seuss books are being retired after decades of criticism over racist imagery in the illustrated children’s stories.

Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the organization that carries on the author’s legacy, announced Tuesday that it will stop publishing and licensing “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “If I Ran the Zoo,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.”

“These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” the organization said in a statement Tuesday morning, adding that the decision was made last year with a panel of experts, including teachers.