The fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic is erupting in appalling force, pummelling Israelis with a lethal ferocity inflicting between 10 and 20 deaths every day, hundreds of seriously ill and thousands of new cases. All of the Health Ministry's prognostications are coming to fruition, precisely in accordance with the warnings issued by most senior public health officials (including doctors, hospital directors, and scientists portending to understand the coronavirus).
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For the past two months, ever since the establishment of the current government, these officials have repeatedly warned Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, his ministers, and the coronavirus cabinet that in order to mitigate the spread of the virus there was an urgent need for imposing significant restrictions, including reinstating the so-called green and purple pass systems, and for serious enforcement. Sadly, though, almost none of these steps were taken, and everything that was done was too little and too late.
The government and the prime minister in charge appear to be in denial and are behaving as if the virus isn't a grave danger. Perhaps this is because the government, and the person leading it, didn't want to be identified with the restrictions imposed by the previous Netanyahu government, and have sought to avoid imposing them at all costs.
Moreover, a strong stench of apathy about the dangers posed by the virus and the severity of the pandemic have emanated from the government's discussions on the matter, along with an odor of complete disregard for the economic damage and lost wages being caused by the fourth wave, the ramifications of which are only now starting to emerge.
One of the government's main problems is also Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, who at least outwardly isn't publicly supporting senior health officials and is displaying tremendous ineffectiveness in his management of the pandemic. Horowitz's motto is that he wants to avoid a lockdown at all costs, but thus far he hasn't displayed even the slightest hint of being able to spearhead the urgently needed restrictions that would reduce the probability of needing a lockdown.
Essentially, Horowitz has become irrelevant in the fight against the coronavirus. He exhibited his disinterest, or lack of leadership, in an interview Tuesday on 103 FM Radio, in which he didn't know the number of new cases. This embarrassment illustrates just how unsuitable he is in leading Israel in this monumental fight.
Bennett is now trying, in new and strange ways, to increase the capacity of hospitals and health funds. He wants to avoid, to the greatest extent possible, the point of full capacity and the need to order a lockdown. Such measures, however, won't prevent the tragic deaths of many dozens or even hundreds of Israelis in the fourth wave of the pandemic.
Some of the hospitals and health funds in Israel are partaking in the government's diversionary tactics, which border on actual fraud. The Health Ministry is also lending its hand to this instead of saying outright that people in serious and critical condition cannot be treated in their homes; and that right now, even the treatment they are receiving in the hospitals is very far from optimal, to say the least.
Horowitz and Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Nahman Ash must stop being tentative. They need to wake up from their daydream and stop issuing empty, sometimes false statements, to the public, coronavirus cabinet, and government. Thus far the Health Ministry has issued contradictory messages about the severity of the pandemic, to the point that the more health officials try calming us down, the worse the outbreak becomes and the chances of a lockdown in September becomes ever more realistic.
To summarize: Stop cynically and brazenly lying to the public when the cost of these lies couldn't be more tragic – dozens if not hundreds of more people dying agonizing deaths.
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