With the increase in corona morbidity, there is also growing concern about crowding in the community.
Public transport load
Photo:
Oren Ben Hakun
The return of public transport to the activity has caused a sigh of relief among many of the citizens, who depend on it to move from place to place. However, along with the return, there were also many concerns about being infected in Corona in the face of the high density of bus lines, which fail to meet demand.
"The buses are blown to a level you can't breathe," says Shoham Leshem, a young woman who travels from Ramat Gan to Jerusalem on daily buses. "I am almost 100 percent sure I was sick on a line I stepped on, or would be in the future." Adiel Rosen, a student who lives in Tel Aviv, is also worried. "I always think twice before going on public transport," he says. "Then, at some point, luck will end, and I'll probably stick with someone on the bus. Sometimes when I'm in the center it's more likely, but when I go to my parents in the north, the loads are even greater."
PM Netanyahu's Statement on the New Restrictions on Gatherings // Photo: GPO
These concerns, as the numbers prove, are not groundless. As of last night, epidemiological investigations found that 751 verified patients used buses across the country in June, most of them in cities with sharp increases - Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Elad, Ashdod and others. Only in the past week were Corona patients on line 52 in Tel Aviv, on line 230 from Bnei Brak to Modi'in Illit, on several interior lines in Bnei Brak, on an urban line in Yavne, on line 426 from Jerusalem to Petah Tikva, on urban lines in Jerusalem (mainly to the Kotel) and more.
One of the problems that passengers point out is that caution has diminished - and this is precisely due to the increase in density. "Until a month ago they made sure there was no load, now no longer," shares Noa Milgir, "some people come in without a mask, drivers sometimes comment and sometimes not. There are not enough buses, no frequency, so there is such crazy density that endangers us all. Lets really keep us afloat. They had plenty of time to try to make sense of it, and it just didn't happen. "
While passenger Doreen Joseph wonders: "There's a load to zero, no masks - I don't understand where the inspectors are? We must bring in inspectors to check that everyone is wearing masks, just as they are checking the multi-line. I haven't even seen one."
"Getting on a bus without a mask is a craze," warns Prof. Amos Pent, a virology expert at the Hebrew University's Faculty of Medicine, "a bus is definitely a time for calamity. It's a crowded and closed place."
The passengers are not alone: the drivers are also on the same bus that could turn into a Corona greenhouse. As early as April, the drivers demanded protection and partition to protect the driver. By the way, that same week, a metropolitan company driver, Teddy Kors, who turned out to be deadly, was infected in Corona. Dozens of drivers went into isolation because of patients on other trips. Some drivers even fell ill.
In May, buses returned to operate partially, with passenger restrictions, two empty lines ahead - but the issue of protection remained stuck. On May 6, the Ministry of Transport announced that the funding had been found and would begin installing the partitions. Installation has begun, but at a crawling pace, to date most buses have no partition.
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"Champions in Speech"
On June 16, after a number of patients began climbing to new highs, officials at public transport companies and drivers' organizations announced that they were considering starting to disrupt work if their protection requirements were not met. Among other things, the organization of bus drivers demanded from the government to expedite the installation of a high partition between the driver and passengers and to close the front door of buses; Cancel lines or change routes in places where there is no refreshment room with running water and disinfectants; Automatic heat measurement at the bus entrance, and providing personal protection in accordance with the Ministry of Health guidelines. Even from these sections, only the last one was fully implemented.
"Promise, declare - but in the field? Everything is nonsense," my son raged this week, driving the line in Rishon Lezion, "drivers continue to charge money, people sit in the front row. Ask anyone who doesn't have a mask not to go up, but if he goes up we have no authority to take it down, Then you have to call a supervisor or a policeman and delay the whole trip. A driver should not be engaged in enforcement. The transport minister and the office have not done anything but make statements. ".
The Ministry of Transport did not respond.
Stand with your back to your neighbor
In any case, until the defects are fixed, Prof. Pant recommends wearing a mask, adding: "To try to avoid contagion, the only thing you can do is stand with your back to the passenger near you, and with your head down, to prevent access to the trachea."
