To understand just how dangerous, immoral, reckless, and possibly lethal the current government's policies – which amount to mass infection of all Israelis – are, one need only to look at a country like New Zealand. With a population of 5 million, just 52 people have died in that country since the outbreak of the pandemic. That would be 92 deaths relative to Israel's population. Yet in Israel, with its 9 million residents, 8,350 people have already lost their lives to the coronavirus.
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The data speaks for itself: COVID restrictions could have prevented thousands of Israelis' deaths. The current policy of the Israeli government, which appears perfectly happy to allow the mass infection of children and adults as long as there are no restrictions and no quarantines, is an existential threat to you and your children's lives.
According to Health Ministry data, at least 500,000 children and teens have contracted the virus thus far. One in every 200 children confirmed to have COVID has also been hospitalized. In total, around 2,500 children have been hospitalized since the outbreak, 150 of whom with difficult symptoms and 5% of whom suffered from serious physical and psychological issues for over 6 months. According to data from the US and Britain, COVID could be dangerous and deadly in children. We should want and be required to do everything we can to protect them.
Yet as Israel sees record infections not seen since the outbreak of the pandemic, including close to 100,000 infections a day, hundreds of people in serious condition, and hospitals overwhelmed to the point where lives are at risk, the current Israeli government is knowingly and demonstrably choosing to roll back all the protections in place for children and the general public in response to the irresponsible demands of Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton. Under the guise of criticism and false concern for public health, Shasha-Biton has dealt a difficult blow to Israel's health defenses and its vaccine campaign.
In the fourth wave of the pandemic, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz were willing to do anything and pay any price to avoid imposing any restrictions, let alone a lockdown. Around 1,600 Israelis died as a result. To add insult to injury, they continue to refer to the fourth wave as a "victory." In this current wave, though, Bennett, Horowitz, and a majority of ministers are continuing to fight quarantines, no matter the price Israelis are made to pay.
Quarantines must not be shortened in a pandemic for students or adults. Restrictions must only be eased when the pandemic wanes, and even then, this should be done gradually and cautiously, and not in the dangerous manner seen here after nearly every single wave since the outbreak of the terrible coronavirus.
Ther government has had sufficient time to prepare for the current wave and the Omicron variant's arrival in Israel. It could have set up far more testing stations across the country through the help of Israel's four healthcare providers. Likewise, the government could have done far more to promote vaccination, including in schools, through overcoming the unforgivable barriers put in place by the education minister. It could have prepared the education system for serious and effective distance learning when that became necessary and by preparing hospitals for the treatment of the seriously ill including those on ventilators.
The public and medical interest should have been the imposition of restrictions on gathering to moderate the outbreak and a return to distance learning and working from home to lessen the blow to the economy. Unfortunately, Bennett does not and will not have the political power necessary to that end. Health Ministry management is particularly weak and bewildered, and the Finance Ministry has thus far succeeded in avoiding having to pay one shekel to the hundreds of thousands of people impacted by COVID restrictions. By contrast, the government has succeeded in putting all of us, and now our children, at risk.
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