Starting this morning, the kilometer limit will be removed and business activities that do not receive crowds will be allowed. • However, the return of the gardens - including in the red cities - raises a number of critical issues and may contribute to a re-rise in morbidity.
After more than a month of closure, today (Sunday) the first phase back to a certain routine will begin, and early childhood education institutions and businesses that do not receive an audience will open.
Also, the exit distance from the houses has been lifted, restaurants will be able to operate in a self-collection format (in addition to deliveries) and the beaches and nature reserves will be opened.
Prime Minister Netanyahu: "Calls on the ultra-Orthodox not to open Torah studies" // Photo: GPO
The transition to the second stage of relief will be made only subject to the continued decline in the level of morbidity, and therefore the cooperation of the citizens is of crucial importance.
More of the concessions approved by the cabinet and will take effect today: the abolition of the ban on visiting other homes, provided that they meet the crowd limit of 10 people in a closed building and 20 people in an open area.
The rest of the restrictions will remain as they were.
Flights at Ben Gurion Airport resumed this weekend.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last night: "If we all abide by the rules, I'm sure it will work.
If we seem to be back - we will go back to tightening the restrictions. "The prime minister added:" There is reason for optimism. I already see the leading companies as Pfizer advancing with the vaccine, and we are working to bring these vaccines to Israel. cautiously".
The dangers in the education system
Despite the optimism, the parents have been waiting for weeks for the reopening of the kindergartens, but an examination of the outline of the return of the Ministries of Education and Health raises concerns that soon there will be no choice but to close them again.
Although all the experts called for returning to school using the capsule method, the outline ignores their recommendation - and this is just one of the many holes and failures that can be found in it.
Following the decision of the Corona Cabinet, kindergartens will be opened today in most authorities in the country, including the red cities.
Some authorities, including Ramat Gan, Eilat and Givat Shmuel, have already announced that the opening of the frameworks is expected to be postponed for a day due to the need to prepare, so the gardens in these cities will return to activity only tomorrow.
Kindergarten learning is supposed to take place six days a week, and children are supposed to arrive daily with a signed health declaration.
Another change in the new outline is the ban on the entry of outside operators into kindergartens, in addition to the parents themselves.
At the end of the week, some of the kindergarten teachers received a message that on Fridays the kindergarten children will probably stay at home and the learning will take place from a distance.
This is in cases where the local authority will not send assistants to the kindergartens.
Some authorities have already warned that a shortage of assistants is expected, due to the limitation of the number of groups in which each assistant can work.
But the failures in the outline are innumerable, giving the impression that the Corona Cabinet preferred economic considerations over health and educational considerations.
Repatriation not in the capsule outline, contrary to the opinion of all experts, is a significant shortcoming in the outline - but it is joined by a series of critical issues:
Multiple kindergarten teachers, multiple risks
according to the outline, kindergarten teachers and complementary assistants - whose job is to replace the teacher and the assistant on the day off - will be able to work in three kindergartens at the same time.
If such an employee is diagnosed as positive for Corona, it means entering the isolation of dozens of children and staff.
A sick teacher who visited three kindergartens with 30 children and two staff members, for example, could put about 100 people in solitary confinement that would last two weeks.
The swap arrangements between kindergarten teachers and their transition between kindergartens were made in stark contrast to all the recommendations of the experts, who called for the creation of "sterile" groups in kindergartens, without the transition of kindergarten teachers and assistants.
There is no set of tests for staff
in the return outline. The Ministry of Health recommends conducting survey tests for kindergarten teachers and kindergarten assistants.
But here lie two main problems: First, it is only a recommendation, and no one requires teaching staff to undergo corona tests before returning to activity.
Secondly, this is not an orderly system operated by the Ministry of Education, and already on Friday, kindergarten teachers reported terribly long queues, which last for two hours and therefore do not allow them to be tested.
Recall that the Ministry of Education asked the Ministry of Health to provide rapid corona tests so that they can quickly locate teachers and students who have fallen ill;
However, as reported in "Israel Today", the Ministry of Health claims that "the technology is not yet ripe for the education system."
While the two ministries are dragging their feet, many local authorities, including Tel Aviv, Haifa, Rishon Lezion, Herzliya, Petah Tikva and others, have announced that they will establish, in cooperation with the Home Front Command, inspection complexes where priority will be given to teaching staff, kindergarten teachers and assistants.
This solution, too, of course, is not optimal, less affluent cities may be left behind, and will not get a chance to set up their own test complexes.
Masks - especially on paper the
outline requires gardeners and assistants to wear mouth and nose masks or reflects face throughout the day, both inside the garden and in the outdoor yard.
But even the Ministries of Education and Health understand that in practice, this is an impossible requirement.
In addition, the Ministry of Health recommends wearing a face mirror, but not all gardeners and assistants are equipped with this means of protection.
The Ministry of Education did not provide them with goggles, but issued a call to local authorities that budgets be transferred to the municipalities they purchased - that is, the treatment of this issue is not under its control.
Problematic transition between authorities Quite a
few green mayors employ gardeners and assistants from red cities, a fact that causes them great unease.
In Shoham, for example, there are assistants from the city of Elad, and in Givatayim, Petah Tikva, Givat Shmuel and Tel Aviv, assistants from Bnei Brak.
As long as the government does not make a final decision on a curfew in the red cities, there is no way to prevent gardeners and assistants living in them from reaching the gardens and making a living.
However, some of the green mayors have decided, on their own initiative, not to hire workers from red cities in the municipal education system.
Givatayim Mayor Ran Konik, for example, said that "this is a difficult and sad decision, but only in this way will a locksmith come out in a responsible and gradual manner."
A good note: the babysitters
Despite all the problems that exist in the outline, one issue has actually been resolved: the educational day centers (babysitters), designed for the children of kindergarten teachers and assistants.
The babysitters, who will operate in the local authorities, today serve the children of special education teachers, who will now be joined by the children of kindergarten teachers and assistants of regular education.
Along with these new guidelines, special education children, as well as children and youth at risk and boarding school students, will continue with their study routine, having been excluded from the quarantine regulations from about two weeks ago.
"Hope this is the last time we reopen"
Meanwhile, the small business revolt against government directives continues.
The members of "There will be no closure" led by Tamir Barelko, who opened the small businesses last Sunday, will continue to open the stores, although from this morning it is allowed to open stores for takeaway only.
“This is a war for the home,” Barelco said last night, “when you lose hope, you lose fear.
"This is a war for survival. On Thursday evening, a demonstration will be held in Rabin Square. There are about a million unemployed, 600,000 of them in the IDF.
They are building on the fact that they will return to work, but all businesses such as restaurants are closed.
We understand that they will make another closure and another closure during the winter, and we want to say that this is not the solution and that there will be no more closure.
All the businesses have taken out loans - where will they get it back from? "
Oded Babai, one of the organizers of the demonstration: "This is a government that only cares about the tycoons. The small businesses have fallen between the cracks and we are losing our minds. The shopkeepers are in big debt and the expenses continue. "To the government: My God, where is your heart? Why are you tying us to malls? We can't put more than three or four people in the store. This is a government that doesn't care. The public sector receives huge salaries and they have a pig pension."
Many of the restaurateurs took advantage of the weekend for final arrangements ahead of the opening this morning for self-collection.
Israel Bar-Levi, one of the owners of the waycup cafe in Tel Aviv, arrived on Friday afternoon to clean the dust from the coffee machines at a branch on Mikve Israel Street in the city.
"I hope this is the last time we reopen. It is difficult to start a business for the third time in a year," he said. "We are going through a difficult period, like any business owner and restaurant. In short-term deliveries, but it's a band-aid. "
Prof. Gamzo warns before closure: "Recognize a halt in the rate of decline in morbidity in some localities" // Photo: Moshe Ben Simhon
Yaki Kabir, owner of the Serpina restaurant and TYO: "We should also allow outdoor seating according to the purple character. The first rains will soon begin and all restaurants may collapse, a ban on sitting outside may collapse us. "A few areas: chefs, waiters, personnel, etc. There are a lot of people who have been injured and may be harmed even more. This can be prevented if they allow outdoor seating."
Participated in the preparation of the article: Noam (Devol) Dvir, Liran Ohali, Hayali Yaakovi-Handelsman, Meital Yasur Beit-Or