Senior ministers are reportedly weighing in on the implementation of an emergency plan to provide relief for the hospital system and avert a fourth national lockdown, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise rapidly across the country.
The proposal was discussed on Sunday by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Finance Minister Avigdor Liebermann and Health Minister Nitzen Horowitz in a meeting with government health officials, Channel 12 reported.
The three-pronged plan will increase the number of hospital beds and nurses across the country; some responsibility for coronavirus treatment transferred from hospitals to health management organizations; And a portion of critically ill COVID-19 patients – such as those not connected to ventilators – were released to be treated at home.
In doing so, health officials hope they will be able to prevent hospitals from overflowing, even as cases continue to rise. And because much of the decision to impose a national lockdown is based on whether the hospital system can cope with a surge in cases, government leadership hopes that the emergency proposal will, at the very least, buy additional time before closing, or In the best case scenario, according to Channel 12, allow ministers to postpone the closure plan altogether.
Buying time is especially important for the government as Israel is still in the early stages of distributing a third dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and health officials expect booster shots to lead to a slowdown in cases, especially in severe cases.
With discussions of possible lockdowns during the coming Jewish holidays in September looming, Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Aish said earlier on Sunday that the closures next month would take a smaller toll on the economy than in other months.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, centre, leads a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on August 1, 2021. (Emil Salman / Flash 90)
“The fact that the economy will be less affected in some ways in September is also a consideration, but the main idea is not to go to a place that could collapse the health system,” he said.
“In my opinion, a lockdown is an effective tool. It comes with a very hard price; This is not a tool we want to use in the early stages. Finally, every time we enforced the lockdown, the morbidity went down. “
Aish said the number of patients in critical condition was the key determinant for enforcing the lockdown.
“We have reached 1,200 seriously ill patients [in the past], and we don’t wanna go through [again]. If we see a slowdown in growth in critically ill patients because of the third vaccine and the various measures we are implementing, it will give us breathing space,” he said in his campaign to administer third vaccine shots in his 60s. Referring to. many new restrictions effective from sunday.
Channel 12 reported on Friday that health ministry officials have indicated that a lockdown will be necessary if and when Israel reaches 600 to 700 of the critically ill patients.
Health Minister Nitzen Horowitz, asked if he agreed with Ashe, said the lockdown was a last resort and would be avoided for as long as possible.
Nachman Aish, Director-General of the Ministry of Health, speaks in his office in Jerusalem on July 13, 2021. (Flash90)
“The same is true for the education system,” he added during a visit to a new Magen David Edom rapid testing station in Jerusalem. “We will avoid disabling the education system for as long as possible.”
As of Sunday evening, Israel had 30,111 active COVID cases, of which 597 were hospitalised, 363 in critical condition and 50 on ventilators.
An additional 2,916 people were diagnosed with the virus on Saturday with a positive test rate of 3.86 percent, bringing the total number of cases in Israel to 900,482 since the start of the pandemic.
Israel’s virus death toll now stands at 6,542 with 7 fatalities recorded on Sunday.
Of Israel’s population of about 9.3 million, more than 5.8 million have received at least one vaccine dose, about 5.4 million have received two and 487,959 have been given a third booster shot, the health ministry said.
cabinet meeting exposed the rift between the ministers regarding the lockdown
Meanwhile, according to leaks published on Hebrew-language media, in Sunday’s meeting, government ministers battled over the possibility of a nationwide lockdown during the upcoming high holiday period amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Reports on Channel 12 and 13 and elsewhere said Education Minister Yifat Shasha-bitan, who has courted controversy by calling the plan to vaccinate students in schools as a “crime”, said during a cabinet meeting that the lockdown was not a “crime”. The option should be removed. Agenda.”
He said such talks are causing economic instability and “people … are concerned for their livelihoods,” the report said. “We’ve seen the charts – it doesn’t matter whether countries imposed lockdowns or not, the morbidity charts look the same.”
Intelligence Minister Elazar Stern agreed: “We need to eliminate the word ‘lockdown’ from our lexicon. We are putting people in danger.”
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett interrupts a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem to congratulate Artem Dolgopyat, the Israeli artistic gymnastics gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, as other ministers applaud August 1, 2021 (Amos Ben-Gershom / GPO) .
Hamad Amar, a finance ministry minister, noted that while Australia is currently in its eighth lockdown, cases are still rising, claiming that “the lockdown is not a solution.”
Other ministers stressed the need for a lockdown and the importance of talking publicly about the lockdown before implementing the lockdown.
Public Safety Minister Omar Barlev reportedly said, “I don’t think we should scare the public, but the truth is that the reality is frightening.” “The worst-case scenario is that the word ‘lockdown’ is not mentioned and then in four weeks the lockdown comes.
“We need to tell the truth – it’s in the hands of the public,” Barlev said, apparently meaning increased public awareness and care health regulations could prevent a shutdown.
Also at Sunday’s meeting, Social Equality Minister Meerv Cohen was reported to have joined ministers’ protests against the exclusion of gatherings from new restrictions on gatherings under the revived Green Pass system.
From Sunday, gatherings of any size, indoors and out, are limited to people who have been vaccinated, cured of the virus, or who present a negative COVID test. While the plan originally included synagogues and other houses of worship, these were eventually exempted from prayer services with fewer than 50 participants.
A paramedic with the Magan David Adom Medical Service of Israel performs a rapid COVID-19 antigenic test in Jerusalem on August 8, 2021. (Menheim Kahn/AFP)
“Sad to read about the coronavirus cabinet decision to exclude synagogues from the Green Pass. As if we didn’t learn a lesson from the previous waves,” Cohen said. “There is no justification for this exception. Even before this, dozens if not hundreds of people have died who used to go to synagogues, and it also does a lot of damage to social cohesion,” she said.
Cabinet Secretary Shalom Shlomo responded to Cohen, saying the move was a legal directive, not a political decision. The exemption of religious services stems from an agreement between Health Minister Nitzen Horowitz and Deputy Attorney General Raz Nijri, who raised concerns over the closure of religious freedom by effectively barring the unaffiliated from communal prayer.
When Cohen asked Shlomo to provide a document instructing the synagogue to exempt, he said there was not one.
Bennett reportedly brushed off this argument and said the issue of gatherings would be examined “in a smaller forum”, possibly referring to the coronavirus cabinet, a forum of ministers whose portfolio deals directly with the pandemic.
Ministers on Thursday approved the extension of restrictions on gatherings under the Green Pass system, which will now extend to hotels, restaurants and gyms. Gatherings of any size inside and outside the home are now limited to people who have been vaccinated, have recovered from the virus, or who present a negative COVID test.