In the shadow of the significant struggle between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance over the opening date of street shops and shopping centers, a position paper from the Corona Information and Knowledge Center claims that the decline in the virus infection rate in the country has stopped.
Bad news:
The Corona Information and Knowledge Center today (Monday) published a position paper stating that the decline in the rate of infection of the virus in the country has stopped, and that it is currently appropriate to improve the ways of dealing with the disease to prevent another outbreak.
In the position paper, the center notes that the arrival of winter, whose first blessing rains have already begun to fall, intensifies the danger of contracting the virus due to staying in closed and unventilated spaces.
Photo: Yoni Rickner
On the other hand, there is a very great pressure from the merchants in the country to open, after the schools, also the street shops and the various shopping centers, in order to prevent the severe damage to the Israeli economy.
A discussion in the Corona Cabinet on the issue is expected to take place today, when the pressure on the government is great.
To this end, we asked experts for their opinion on the subject and the answer we received was unequivocal: in the next two weeks no further relief should be allowed - until we see how returning to school in first-fourth grades affected the disease state.
Further opening at this stage will lead to a loss of control and even more fatal damage to the country
Prof. Eli Waxman, a physicist and astrophysicist at the Weizmann Institute who advises the National Council of Israel in the fight against the corona plague, urges the public to be patient and not press for more things despite the general difficulty of traders around the country. How returning to the school system affects.
The system should be allowed to manage the expected increase with the opening of the curriculum.
I know that the merchants are suffering and that they are pushing to open and that they also have supporters within the government, but a quick opening will create a loss of control and we will return to another closure that will be even more destructive. "
Prof. Waxman said that to the best of his knowledge, "what needs to be done is to wait and continue the program in an orderly manner so that at the end we reach a hundred infected a day. Although it will take longer, but then we can go back and deal with outbreaks, because we will have a system I understand the difficulty of the people, but at the moment they must not succumb to their pressure because it will hurt them even more in the future. Systematic and orderly activity must continue, because in the long run it is the only way to open the economy, while dealing with the plague without loss of control. A little sick and a little infected we can run and open a lot of things, and also deal with local outbreaks without closing. If we are not strong and currently succumb to the pressures of the merchants, it will hurt them too. That way we will lose control and reach another closure and then hurt the merchants more. Understand this and not put pressure on the government. "
Not sure we can continue with the relief
Professor Eran Segal, Professor of Computational Biology in the Department of Computer Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science, who studies the spread of the corona plague in Israel, expresses real concern about the state's continued possibility of making the next phase of the closure.
Prof. Segal points out that it is now necessary to wait and see what the morbidity situation will be in the country in two weeks, and no further relief should be made before then.
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Prof. Segal claims that "what we have seen in recent days is a significant and real slowdown in the decrease in morbidity and transmission of the corona virus. This is a direct connection to the reliefs made about two weeks ago, even before we see the effect of the reliefs received yesterday by the Corona Cabinet. "True, because we have reached a coefficient of infection of 0.8 and less than 1,000 infected per day, but it is not at all certain that we will be able to approach the next pulse, and it is important not to announce more relief at the moment, although I know many in the public are pressing the government."
Prof. Segal added that "it is very important to wait all the next two weeks and see if we do not see a setback and an increase in infection. Only after we see what happens will we be able to make an informed decision. I know it is difficult for the public and it has effects on the economy. "The outline and want not to be dragged into a state of renewed outbreak We must stop for now and see how the reliefs that came into effect yesterday affect the infection coefficient and the daily number of infections in the country. Unfortunately I am not sure we can continue with the reliefs."
Without the differential method we will not be able to manage the epidemic
Professor Leonid Eidelman believes that the government's conduct is problematic and that in fact it is not implementing its own plans.
"The plague is with us for a long time to come, and if they do not understand that it is a marathon, then we will never get out of this circle and it is a disaster for the economy and society in the country."
Explaining what needs to be done, Prof. Eidelman states: "What we see today regarding stopping the decline in morbidity is a national average. But there are green places where we need to continue to open up to revive the economy and let people get into the corona routine. Unfortunately, this method is not currently used. "And they do not realize that there will be more waves. Now in the United States, for example, there is already the beginning of a third wave and so it will continue."
Regarding the education system, Prof. Eidelman criticizes the way it opened yesterday and says that "we need real capsules, one teacher for one capsule. The education system from February knows there is a plague, talked about this issue a thousand times and nothing moved. Classrooms had to be taken out." It is clear that once the system is opened there will be an increase in the coefficient of infection, the famous R. But at the same time, one should continue to open the system, take the children to open spaces and spread the risk. Also, do not look at the national average, but at each place separately, "Let the green spaces get going." Unfortunately, we talk about the differential process all the time, but we don't do it, "he states.
