Head of United Hatzalah hospitalized in Florida, fears having coronavirus
“I am in the ICU and waiting for results tomorrow, but most probably I do have it,” Eli Beer told the Post.
By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMANEli Beer(photo credit: COURTESY UNITED HATZALAH)
The president of one of the Jewish world’s largest emergency medical services organizations, United Hatzalah, is in the intensive care unit of a Florida hospital being tested for coronavirus.Eli Beer told The Jerusalem Post, “I am in the ICU and waiting for results tomorrow, but most probably I do have it.”Beer was on a fundraising trip when he got a fever and checked himself into the hospital.“Eli Beer, who was scheduled to return to Israel, stayed in the United States to raise money to provide for the significantly increased demand for United Hatzalah's services in Israel during this crisis,” said United Hatzalah of Israel chairman Mark Gerson. “He attended a Purim event in Miami, where many people became stricken with COVID-19.” Gerson described Beer as “feeling ill with a fever, shortness of breath and general weakness,” though he said that the president's vital signs are fine. A spokesperson for United Hatzalah said that the diagnosis Beer has been given so far is “pneumonia with a suspicion of coronavirus.”The organization did not disclose which synagogue's event Beer attended.Florida has a high number of infected people. On Wednesday, the Florida Department of Health announced nearly 100 new coronavirus cases, bringing its state total to 314.
