The fifth corona wave is currently sweeping Israel with an intensity not seen in previous waves.
Although the Ministry of Health has not published the official verified data in recent days, the fear among the public in Israel leads to a kind of voluntary closure of many citizens, who choose to avoid leaving their homes as much as possible.
Against this background, we examined whether the current wave is facing a peak after which there appears to be relief and a slow decline in the number verified for the virus or that it is too early to predict this.
We asked this question a number of health experts - and their answers were divided.
Loads in queues for corona tests at the Ma'ale Adumim testing complex, last month // Photo: Yoni Rickner
Professor Eli Somekh, an expert in the treatment and counseling of infectious and immunological diseases in children, including prolonged and severe infections at Maayan Hayeshua Hospital in Bnei Brak, estimates that we are only nearing the peak of the fifth wave - and that we are likely to see a decrease in verified numbers within a few days.
"A wave drop is always only two or three days into the drop, because then the data accumulates and becomes certain. If need be estimated, we are in the last days of the rise of the omicron virus - and very soon the expected drop will begin. "Even more than it was in the United States," he tells Israel Today.
Is it possible to assess the continuation of the disease now? Will there be more waves?
"The corona virus taught us a great lesson in modesty with nature. It was estimated that after the third and fourth waves there would be a respite because there was a very large infection of the population, but instead we got the mighty omega of the micron wave, which infects with unprecedented intensity. "A little respite of a few months, and that's why the omicron has caught up with a huge mass of people - so there will now be a kind of herd immunity, at least for a while.
A man undergoes a corona examination in Bnei Yehuda in the Golan Heights, Photo: Michael Giladi - Ginny
Dr. Dvir Aran of the Technion, an immunologist and expert in computational biology, explains that in Israel's situation, we are seeing a steady rise and fall in corona waves. .
The shock wave of infection also continues after the peak, with half to two-thirds of patients arriving after it is over.
"Whoever thinks we are at the height of the omicron wave is wrong," he tells Israel Today.
"Because there is currently a kind of voluntary closure in the country, I think we will soon see a decrease in the coefficient of infection - so it was in South Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom.
There will be a steep ascent and then a big weakening, "he adds." But Bell was wrong - as soon as people take to the streets, the coefficient will go up again.
We are doomed to live alongside the ups and downs of corona waves, until a vaccine is found for this mutation. "
"The disease will continue to spread"
Professor Nadav Davidovich, director of the School of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University, believes that we are nearing the peak of the fifth wave, but that even with its completion, there will be no immediate relief from the medical system. "The peak of the wave will come in a few days to a week," he tells Israel Today. "However, it must be said that in terms of the burden on hospitals it will be heavy later on, because people who are currently infected are added to patients who already exist, and so the burden is growing. However, this is not enough. Winter and the flu are not simple at all. "
Will the omicron produce herd immunity for the future?
"Here I am hanging from trees bigger than me, which I think may be the answer is that, after such a large infection with this mutation, when we have vaccines and drugs and better knowledge, then we will be in a completely different reality. This is a reasonable scenario, There is not enough immunization in the whole world. Therefore the disease will still spread and more variants may form. I think there will be a social return to routine after the current huge wave, but there will be a great need to maintain system readiness and alertness, and the virus will need to be sequenced to detect mutations. To be prepared for surprises in the future. "
Young woman vaccinated against Corona, in Tel Aviv, Photo: Gideon Markovich
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