The committee visited the Home Front Command Center • MK Hauser: "140,000 people went into isolation in the last two weeks" • At the same time, the Corona Committee convenes to approve the restrictions • MK Shasha-Bitton: "Not sure restrictions are the right solution" • Prof. Grotto: "Weekend closure is expected to lower the contagion chain" • Live
At this time, the Corona Committee is convening to discuss the restriction order issued by the government in the shadow of the battle between the chairman of the Corona Committee, MK Yifat Shasha-Biton (Likud), and the government, which is reaching a new peak. At the beginning of the discussion she said: "Not sure that restrictions are the right solution now, the virus is expected to stay with us for a long time to come."
Photo: Knesset Channel
She added that "we are allowed to argue and disagree and we are allowed to look at things on the various issues of the epidemic. This is a multidimensional issue - health, economic, mental, social and we here in the discussion give consideration to all aspects to maintain the delicate balance between them.
I'm sure the government has good intentions. The question is not whether to leave open but how and under what conditions? But what is the economic harm in the face of the medical benefit? The psychological and social harm versus the medical benefit? Care should be taken not to spill the baby with the water and examine the damage. The question is how to open the economy and manage a life routine and what we as a system should do. We have a lot to do before we impose a closure on our citizens. "
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The committee chairman went on to say that “as of today: (in percent) there are 0.8% dead, 0.8% seriously ill and 0.2% respirated patients. Regarding the percentage of patients verified compared to the first wave - on March 31 there were 9.9% verified, April 1 8%, July 13 5.9%, July 14 5%, July 15 6.1%, yesterday 6.4% - indicating that there is no adequacy between these data And the explanatory notes and we will be happy to receive a reference from the Ministry of Health to the gaps. "
"Does closing pools that harm thousands of families who eat from it, thousands of seniors coming to them and this is their only activity, children with special needs that is the engine of their development, does it have a significant benefit in truncating the infection? Does closing the sea allow the family to reach some immense stress "That we live in it today, to add to it the economic hardships, to allow children to expend energies. Can anyone say that it will help cut off the infection?", She added.
The Deputy Attorney General, Adv. Raz Nazri, indirectly backed the committee chairman during a discussion in the Corona Committee, noting that "the Knesset has the authority not to approve government decisions and each of the authorities is doing its job."
Shasha-Bitton: "Not sure that restrictions are the right solution, the virus is here for a long time" // Photo: Knesset Channel
Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Itamar Grotto, emphasized that "he is concerned about the situation. The hospitals are crowded with corona patients and today there are 550 patients in various conditions. "Even if we announce an immediate closure - those who managed to catch up will appear in severe blues in just two weeks, and in increasing numbers."
He noted that "at the beginning of the epidemic there were no clear criteria for defining a serious patient, and each hospital defined this for itself. Gradually the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization formulated criteria for these definitions. In April-May there was an increase in mortality of about 200 patients. "The months of June-July have not yet been agreed. We have tried to curb the sharp increase in the number of new patients, and Israel is among the leading countries in the world in the number of verified patients, about 7% of the patients."
The gathering is contagious in closed places, or in places where the nature of the activity does not allow for a mask, such as restaurants and gyms. All over the world, restrictions were placed on the activities of restaurants, and in all the places where there was an increase in morbidity - where the restaurants were closed. The current level of morbidity - requires the closure of places that meet the 'purple mark'. Closing on weekends is expected to lower the chain of infection by about 20%, "said Professor Grotto.
"Consider shortening the duration of isolation to 12 days"
At the same time as the Knesset debate, a tour of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, chaired by MK Zvi Hauser, visited the Achievement Center at the Home Front Command in Ramla. The committee was hosted by the Home Front Command Commander, Major General Uri Gordin. ') Eran Sandel who presented an overview of the main functions and challenges faced by the soldiers of the rescue and battalion.
Ayelet Greenbaum, Director of the Quality of Service Division at the Ministry of Health, reviewed the manner in which appeals that reach the Ministry of Health's Voice Center "are handled, as well as providing data regarding the various referrals and their treatment. She also noted that towards the end of this week, the number of call centers will double and the waiting time at the call center will be reduced to an average of 2 minutes.
The committee's chairman, MK Hauser, said at the end of the visit: "About 140,000 people went into solitary confinement in the last two weeks. A shortening of the solitary confinement period from 14 days to 12 days should be considered. In the balance between the damage to households and the Israeli economy, "To take the health risk, it seems that shortening the isolation period to 12 days will facilitate and reduce the extent of the injury without this having a material effect on the extent of the outbreak of the epidemic."
MK Hauser added: “In a few days we will mark the Feast of Sacrifice, I call on the Ministry of Health to significantly strengthen the Arabic-speaking call centers. A person who does not come into contact with a verified patient and will be forced into isolation for no reason, the injury to him during the holiday period will be significant. Therefore, the number of people who "accidentally" go into isolation during the holiday should be reduced.
Yehuda Schlesinger participated in the preparation of the article