Kiddush Hashem at Covid-19
A COVID-19 'mitzvah': Orthodox Jews donate blood plasma by the thousands “There’s no way we’d be able to treat so many people without them,” said Dr. Michael Joyner of the Mayo Clinic. Orthodox Jewish community donates plasma to battle coronavirus July 13, 2020, 8:41 AM EDT By Conor Ferguson and Cynthia McFadden One Saturday in mid-April, a group of Orthodox Jewish leaders held a conference call with a Minnesota doctor as they grappled with spiking coronavirus cases in their New York area communities. Dr. Michael Joyner of the Mayo Clinic is leading a nationwide study on the use of blood plasma to treat patients with severe COVID-19. On the call that afternoon, he told the religious leaders he needed something for his research: more blood from people who have survived the virus. “Do what you can,” Joyner said, according to Yehudah Kaszirer of Lakewood, New Jersey, one of the rabbis on the call. About 36 hours later, Kaszirer boarded a private jet with roughly 1,000 vials of blo