Hospital directors in Israel are warning the increase in the number of coronavirus patients could harm the quality of treatment they provide. Moreover, according to Health Ministry data, hospitals' coronavirus wards could reach maximum capacity in another four days, which will require the opening of additional wards at the expense of others.
According to Health Ministry findings, the number of patients in serious condition has tripled since early December. Hospitals now have 1,164 patients – and are at over 75% capacity. Of those hospitalized in coronavirus wards, 594 are in serious condition and 238 are critical. Hospitals can receive a further 400 patients, although they are currently being forced to contend with 100 new seriously ill patients daily.
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A majority of Israel's hospitals have opened additional coronavirus wards. At Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center, two coronavirus wards are at maximum capacity. As a result, the Health Ministry has instructed Magen David Adom to take patients from the Jerusalem area to the country's center.
At the Rambam Healthcare Campus in Haifa, the increase in cases, along with the fact that 180 medical staff are in quarantine, led hospital management to ask the Israel Defense Forces to begin treating coronavirus patients in the building's parking lot, which has been converted into an underground coronavirus ward.
Due to fears coronavirus wards will be overwhelmed with patients, hospital directors spoke Sunday with Health Ministry Director Hezi Levy, who asked them to prepare to add 1,500 beds in their corona wards. Private hospitals have warned a decrease in elective surgeries could have financial repercussions. Coronavirus chief Nachman Ash, who was also in attendance at the meeting, spoke of the need to tighten Israel's third lockdown.
Ahead of the meeting, the hospital directors said they had witnessed a "dramatic increase in the extent of patients hospitalized, including those in serious condition" last week. The rate of the increase in the number of these patients is much faster than it was in the second wave [of the outbreak]," they said, arguing "immediate steps are needed to stop the extent of the infections so that we can continue to provide the correct response to both hospitalized corona patients and 'normal' patients.
Professor Arnon Ofek, who serves as deputy director of Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer and is a member of Ash's advisory team, explained: "The number of patients is on the rise. This is a difficult task that will eventually become impossible, but we are not about to collapse. We can always increase the hospitalization capabilities, but the question is, at what price? Our mission in hospitals is not just to treat corona patients but also to treat heart attacks and cancer. Right now, we can, but we'll soon be forced to cut regular treatments. We are warning that the situation is such that if we continue with the increase in the number of patients, it will harm the standard [of care] and the ability to treat ordinary patients."
On Sunday, 79,665 Israelis tested for the virus, with 5,154 found to have COVID-19 for an infection rate of 6.6%. There are currently 50,041 active cases, 797 of which are serious. Of those in serious condition, 203 are on ventilators. So far, 3,433 have died.
In a statement, Monday, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein noted 1,224 million Israelis have received their first dose of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine.
"We are winning the vaccine race, but unfortunately losing the battle against the mutation [of the virus originally identified in the UK]. The increase in morbidity should concern every public official who should keep in mind their first obligation is public health," he said.
With the number of cases continuing to rise, the Health Ministry has called for a further tightening of Israel's third lockdown that would include the complete closure of the country's education system.
Classes have been held according to the government's traffic light system of determining public health restrictions for local authorities based on the number of new coronavirus cases and the percentage of positive test results. For the time being, students in the fifth to 12th grades are learning remotely in "orange" and "red" cities, meaning 616,000 of Israel's 2.2 million students are not learning in person.
In a post to social media, Sunday, Education Minister Yoav Gallant called on the government "to unite behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and immediately authorize the framework for operating the education system during the lockdown, as was approved by the government and rejected by the Knesset's Education Committee.
Netanyahu has called for a shorter, tighter lockdown that would see students in fifth- to tenth-grade learn remotely for between seven and 10 days.
"The adoption of the framework will help keep students and teaching staff healthy while providing an appropriate educational response," Gallant said.
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