One of the lessons so far from the coronavirus pandemic in Europe is that the eastern half of the continent is less affected than the western half.  
The combined death toll to date across more than a dozen eastern countries is less than the number of fatalities on any given recent day in Italy. The highest numbers of infections are in the Czech Republic and Poland, with around 4,500 cases in each country, still a fraction of the numbers in most western European countries.
Partly this could be down to lockdown measures introduced at an early stage in the outbreak. The Czech Republic imposed a strict lockdown three weeks ago, while at the same time Poland cancelled almost all flights in and out of the country. Polish authorities were also quick to close bars, restaurants, cinemas and schools. Police vehicles with mounted loudspeakers blare recorded messages urging people to stay at home.
‘’As far as I know there are no Jews among the people who died from the coronavirus in Poland,’’ said Edward Odener, a leading member of the TSKŻ Board, the Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland, in a zoom conversation with the European Jewish Association. ,
TSKZ is the most important organization representing the interests of the Jewish community of the country, with 16 branches and nearly 2,000 active members, out of some 5000 affiliated Jews in the country.
TSKŻ aims to organize and to promote cultural events and Jewish art exhibitions, to consolidate and preserve the cultural heritage of Polish Jews, the Jewish culture among Jews and Poles, Yiddish language courses and publishing projects. It is is very active to preserve the memory of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and of the Shoah.
‘’Most of the elderly Jewish people prefer to rely on their relatives if they need help during this period and are quite reluctant to ask for outside help,’’ Odoner explained.
The Synagogues have volunteers to deliver basic packages of kosher products and matsot for Pessach to the homes of those who will request it. However, there are not so many requests and Odoner presumes that they have other concerns than to keep a strictly kosher Pessach holiday.
In the country, there is no shortage of masks since they started to produce them in Poland.  ‘’Everyone can buy online any quantity of masks, also reusable ones, at an affordable price and they got it the day after their order.
Poles are for the last three weeks in strict lockdown, and Poland closed its borders for non Polish citizens and for non permanent residents since three weeks, Odoner said as he explained the fact that the country was able to contain the coronavirus.
Odoner noted that he didn’t recorded any antisemitic incident blaming the Jews for the crisis like it happened in other countries in Europe.
The article was published on the EJP

Every Day during the Corona crisis our Advisory Board Member Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs (NL) writes a diary, on request of the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam, which is published on the website of the NIW, the only Jewish Dutch Magazine. Rabbi Jacobs is the head of Inter Governmental Relationships at the Rabbinical Centre of Europe. We will be regularly publishing a selection of his informative, sometimes light hearted, but always wise pieces.
For our Dutch readers you can follow the diary every day at NIW home page: https://niw.nl
“Schoenmaker, houd je bij je leest”, is a Dutch expression, which means “cobbler stick to your trade” And so, as I’m not a medic, I don’t get involved with medical technology. But if someone is dead, then I could and should get involved. And if something takes place between life and death, the dying process, then it seems to me that both the doctor and the rabbi may operate together (in the figurative sense of the word of course). What am I referring to? Organ donations. Not organ donations from a healthy person who donates a kidney to a fellow human being and thereby saves a life. Nor am I talking about donating organs after death, whether that should or should not be done. No, I’m referring to the case of a donor who would normally have been dead, kept alive artificially and now being used as an organ supplier. He is declared brain dead. In the past, a person was dead, alive or dying. We expect respect for life, for death, but also respect for that intermediate phase. I remember nurses in the gerontopsychiatric ward of the Sinai Center. “Mrs Cohen, how are you today? Your children have arrived to visit you.” They spoke fondly to Mrs. Cohen, who was on a ventilator, although perhaps she would have been legal declared brain dead if she had been a donor. But was Mrs. Cohen already dead? Her body still had temperature, her heart was beating, all organ functions were still intact and she was given medication. The donor is considered brain dead, which is a legal terminology. Without this legal assistance the donor would be considered alive! And ‘the operation’ would have bee an illegal and punishable act. Is the public aware that the donor will receive medication during the organ donation procedure? Medication for a dead body? He is given sleeping pills to control blood pressure. To counteract resistance, the donor was initially tied up to the bed, but nowadays muscle relaxants are administered by the anaesthetist. The impression that the donor is actively resisting is dismissed as reflexes! Enough written about organ donations. Another (less morbid?) topic: There is quite a bit of
opposition to kosher slaughter. I will spare you the details. But the cow would still be alive after the kosher slaughter, because there are visible reflexes. I just don't get it: cattle reflexes are signs of life; human donor reflexes are signs of death!? And therefore is my conclusion: when in doubt do without!

On the 28th of June, the European Jewish Association has met with Mr. Ján Figeľ, Special Envoy for the Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the EU. During a very productive and insightful two-hour conversation, the topics discussed have ranged from the freedom of religion and inter-religious dialogue to anti-Semitism and the future of Jews in Europe. Other highly important issues touched upon included persecution of religious minorities worldwide as well as ways of resolving this severely acute problem, which still continues to plague the world even nowadays.

Le président de l’Association juive européenne, le rabbin Menachem Margolin, a déclaré : “Ce seront des vacances et une expérience inoubliables pour ces enfants, pour toutes les mauvaises raisons… un rappel que nous ne pouvons jamais devenir complaisants ou baisser notre garde quand il s’agit d’antisémitisme”.

Un groupe d’écoliers juifs français en vacances dans un hôtel de la ville de Trilj, près de Split, en Croatie, s’est réveillé lundi en découvrant une croix gammée géante barbouillée sur le trottoir en face de leur hôtel.

L’Association juive européenne (EJA), basée à Bruxelles, a été informée de cet acte clairement antisémite par son représentant en Croatie, Romano Bolkovic, qui a contacté les bureaux du Premier ministre, du Président et des ministres des Affaires étrangères et de l’Intérieur croates, et a informé l’ambassadeur d’Israël.

La police mène actuellement une enquête sur cet incident.

“C’est une honte absolue. Si je suis certain que les opinions de l’individu et du groupe responsables de la peinture d’une croix gammée géante ne sont pas représentatives de la grande majorité des Croates, l’acte et la nature de cette attaque – car c’est bien de cela qu’il s’agit – restent une profonde entaille pour les Juifs du monde entier”, a commenté le président de l’EJA, le rabbin Menachem Margolin.

“En tant qu’adultes, nous sommes tristement habitués à la haine, et pourtant nous continuons à faire tout ce que nous pouvons pour en protéger nos enfants. Qu’un groupe d’enfants juifs français en vacances en Croatie ait eu une introduction aussi vicieuse et visible à cette haine est tragique.”’

”Les vacances de ces enfants seront désormais inoubliables, pour toutes les mauvaises raisons”, a-t-il ajouté.

Le Rabbin Margolin a conclu, ”Bien que je sois confiant que la police fera toute la lumière sur cet incident, et bien que les mots forts de condamnation venant des plus hautes fonctions en Croatie soient un réconfort, nous avons encore beaucoup de travail à faire contre l’antisémitisme. Cette attaque nous rappelle que nous ne pouvons jamais nous permettre d’être complaisants et de baisser la garde”.