In order for the chaos not to be repeated, the Corona Cabinet and the Ministry of Health will soon have to decide how to get the economy back on track.
The closure that Israel is currently in will, according to estimates by the Ministry of Health, last for many weeks in a row.
But even after that there must be a detailed and thorough preparation of all government ministries, for the purpose of a gradual and measured return of the economy.
Holiday closure takes effect across the country // Photo: Newsenders
Decision-makers are advised by many bodies and professionals, some of whom have submitted and will be submitting outlines for leaving the quarantine.
In one of them, submitted yesterday by a team of experts led by Prof. Eli Waxman, who advises the National Security Office in the Prime Minister's Office, they note that Israel has entered a rigid closure that includes acute social distance measures due to "high morbidity and loss of epidemic control."
Its authors propose to the government to set clear and transparent quantitative targets for the stages of gradual return to the corona routine, which all government ministries will be partners in preparing and mobilizing the public for the joint effort.
They further suggest that the various stages be formulated and presented as simple and clear guidelines to the public, which will be explained to it by one party as clearly and as early as possible.
This is in contrast to the stuttering and chaotic way in which information has been made since the end of the first wave.
The authors of the document note that the main goal of quarantine must be "properly functioning farm and company management with minimal limitations in the presence of the virus, while ensuring long-term functioning without risk of outbreaks. To achieve this goal, low morbidity and long-term maintenance are required. "Including the rate of verified new patients that does not exceed a few dozen a day. Ensuring the continuity of functioning of the country, which is conditional on maintaining a low level of morbidity, is the only way to reduce unemployment and resume growth in the economy," the document said.
According to the proposal of the experts below for national security, the education system from fifth grade and yeshiva studies should be postponed until at least Hanukkah, and there is a critical need to prepare for postponing events and shows at least until early 2021, reducing public transportation to a minimum, continuing restrictions on aviation, preparing to open businesses And offices while limiting the number of visitors and regularly registering visitors, an extensive and focused advocacy effort on the importance of wearing masks, and deepening the involvement and responsibility of municipal authorities.
Two weeks between reliefs
The experts paint a picture according to which, after stopping the spread of the epidemic and reaching 2,000 new verified people every day, it will be easier to open the economy, offices without an audience and educational frameworks will be opened until the second grade.
Reaching 1,000 new verifiers a day will allow for the opening of street shops and markets.
With 400 verified people a day, it is possible to open malls, businesses and offices with the reception of the public and the return of third-fourth graders to the schools, and later with the arrival of 100 verified people a day, it will be possible to return restaurants, tourism, events and shows.
According to the proposed outline, and in contrast to the very rapid and borderless return after the first wave, the removal of restrictions will be conditioned each time on achieving the goals of halting the epidemic consistently, continuously and significantly.
The relief will be done gradually while maintaining an interval of at least two weeks between steps.
The goal is understandable: to allow the examination of the effect of any relief, and with it also a correction if necessary.
In addition, the relief will be delayed in areas and cities with abnormal morbidity (cities and red localities) that will be isolated from the other localities in their area.
Prof. Itamar Grotto, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health, said in the first wave of the Corona that the world after the Corona epidemic would be very different from the world before the plague, just as the whole world changed greatly after the world wars in the previous century.
The recklessness must not be repeated
Although it has been months since the virus arrived in Israel, returning from quarantine is still very dangerous and complicated.
Israel must not repeat the tragic mistake of reckless and hasty exit from the closure of the first wave, recklessness that led to the erasure of Israel's great achievements in dealing with the first wave.
This time, Israel must prepare for a very gradual and very slow exit, contrary to public and media expectations and pressure.
Any further mistake in returning too quickly to routine could, God forbid, degenerate Israel into thousands more sick and dead and bring us to the horrors that were in the first wave in cities and countries like Italy, Spain, Belgium and New York.
