The Israeli healthcare system is on the brink of collapse and soon will no longer be able to ensure coronavirus patients receive adequate care, health officials warned Monday amid new data indicated that the second outbreak racing across Israel is showing no signs of slowing down.
Israel has so far recorded 190,929 coronavirus cases, including 1,273 deaths. Some 169 patients are in serious condition, and 136,780 Israelis have so far recovered from the disease.
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According to the Health Ministry, of the 34,400 Israelis screened for the coronavirus on Monday, 3,858 tested positive for it.
As of Monday evening, several major hospitals announced that their corona units had either exceeded capacity or were nearing full capacity, raising concerns patient care would be compromised.
While the Health Ministry had committed to integrating as many as 700 new doctors into the healthcare system, the Knesset Information Center revealed that so far, only 156 such positions have been filled.
The team advising coronavirus commissioner Prof. Ronni Gamzu has warned that healthcare providers "are experiencing growing fatigue. In some hospitals, the teams have not been relieved for a prolonged period of time.
"The growing number of doctors and nurses who must be quarantined over potential exposure to the virus plays a major role in increasing the burden shouldered by the medical teams."
So far, 772 doctors and nurses have contracted the coronavirus. Some 3,157 medical personnel have been ordered into isolation.
"This is a fiasco in the making," warned Dr. Ze'ev Feldman, chairman of the Israel Physicians Association.
He accused the Finance Ministry of mounting bureaucratic difficulties on the hiring process over "its desire to control everything. It undermines the system.
"The problem the Health Ministry is facing has nothing to do with ventilators and other equipment – it has to do with the fact that caregivers are collapsing with exhaustion," he said.
Health Ministry Director Prof. Hezi Levi warned Monday that Israel was looking at an additional 300 serious coronavirus patients in the next 10 days – a dire prediction that would bring hospitals nationwide to the verge of collapse.
Israel's healthcare system is facing a state of emergency, he said.
The ministry has ordered all hospitals to suspend elective procedures and convert wards into additional corona units once the existing ones reach 80% capacity.
A Health Ministry statement said that "a total of 251 physician positions and 1,275 nursing positions have been staffed since early March.
"Recruitment processes will continue for at least another two months, as they depend, among other things, on the dates of the [doctors and nurses'] licensing exams."
Is corona airborne?
Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its official guidance on the mechanism in which the COVID-19 infection occurs, noting that aerosols are "thought to be the main way the virus spread."
The CDC website stated that "airborne viruses, including COVID-19, are among the most contagious and easily spread."
The question of the COVID-19 infection mechanism has been a topic of debate for months within the scientific community. Until now, guidelines have focused on keeping social distance at six feet and avoiding close contact with individuals, as respiratory droplets were thought to be the main route of the virus' transmission.
Now, however, the American agency stipulates that "there is growing evidence that droplets and airborne particles can remain suspended in the air and be breathed in by others, and travel distances beyond six feet."
The CDC did not call for a major shift in behavior or action in light of this new finding, but did warn that poorly ventilated indoor spaces could be particularly infectious and pose an extra risk.
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