As the government approves new restrictions on public gatherings and the threat of yet another general shutdown hangs in the air, Israel Hayom has obtained figures from the Corona National Information and Knowledge Center that reveal that most of the virus spread has occurred in people's homes as a result of contact with a sick family member, rather than in public.
Chairwoman of the Knesset's Corona committee, MK Yifat Shasha-Biton, requested the data. The numbers cover the epidemiological history of only 8,981 of the over 30,000 Israelis who have contracted the virus since the beginning of the first outbreak.
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According to the corona center, nearly two-thirds (65.8%) of people who tested positive for coronavirus were exposed at home. Another 10.3% were exposed at schools, yeshivas, and universities, while 5.8% were exposed to it at medical facilities (clinics or hospitals).
Another 3.9% were exposed to the virus at an event or conference, while 2.2%, or 198 individuals, were exposed at synagogues. Another 2% were exposed to the virus at shopping centers or in stores. According to the corona center data, only 1.8% of confirmed cases were exposed at leisure venues.
The remaining 8.2% were exposed in other situations.
If these percentages are accurate for all of the corona cases in Israel, they would appear not to align with the Health Ministry's "traffic light" parameters for assessing the risk of catching or spreading the virus, which categorizes activities as "red" (high-risk), "yellow" (moderate risk), or "green" (low risk).
According to the Health Ministry, visits to nightclubs are deemed "red," whereas filling up a car with gas or ordering take-out are "green."
The Corona National Information and Knowledge Center said it had not been informed about what criteria the ministry had used to determine the traffic light risk assessment system.
Shasha-Biton stressed that the need to protect the health of the public and stop outbreaks must be balanced by the need to keep the economy functioning.
Professor Nadav Davidovitch, head of the Department of Health Systems Management at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, said, "An analysis of the data suggests a few important insights: the source of infection in about half the cases could not be determined.
"This is the result of the dynamic of infection at this time, when we have an extensive community spread and can't always know when it happened, as well as the fact that it is frequently difficult to investigate, with people being unwilling to provide details. Especially with a sector that has little faith in the system," Davidovitch said.
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