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Health Ministry officials sum up Corona's year: "6,000 deaths is not a failure - it is an achievement"

Professors Levy, Grotto and Ash have convened to conclude a year since the beginning of the first closure, with Israel on its way out of one of the greatest health crises in history.

In an interview, the three described the struggles with the political echelon, what Israel will look like the day after and the obligatory conclusions: "There is no doubt that the management of the epidemic needs to be examined."

Tags

• Hezi Levy

• Corona

• Nachman Ash

• Itamar Grotto

• Ministry of Health

• Corona virus

• Vaccine for corona

Meirav Cohen

Tuesday, March 30, 2021, 7 p.m.

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In the video: Ash estimates that there will be no increase in morbidity following the election (Photo: GPO)

Exactly one year ago, Israel entered the first closure as a result of the corona crisis, after a total of 5,500 verified viruses were discovered throughout the country, along with 15 dead.

Since then, Israel has known two more closures, more than 800,000 patients, almost 6,200 dead, more than five million vaccinated and the infiltration of four different variants into the country.

Today, since the vaccination campaign began to show its signs, the data have been very encouraging, and have even surprised senior health officials.

The coefficient of infection is low and approaches 0.5, the number of severe patients reached less than 500, with 90% of those patients not completing the vaccination process, and mortality reduced by tens of percent.

We convened the three senior officials of the Ministry of Health - Director General of the Ministry of Health Prof. Hezi Levy, Corona Commissioner Prof. Nachman Ash and Deputy Director General Prof. Itamar Grotto - who led the difficult campaign, to sum up one of the difficult years the state knew, to examine where it went wrong Office led by them, and check what the health care system has learned and how it continues from here.

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The trend has changed.

Police prepare for the first closure last year (Photo: Shlomi Gabay)

Levy

took office as CEO of the firm after the government was sworn in and Cshgl first and relatively little faded. "I leave with the feeling that we managed this year to overcome the most difficult event," says Levy. "Medically speaking - we had the crisis in a dignified way.

There was always room for improvement and there will always be those who complain.

I leave with a sense of pride and great satisfaction from our health care system and what they have managed to do.

The mortality rate is not higher than expected, the deaths are mainly among the complex patients who had background diseases and whose body is less resistant to corona shock. "At

what point do you think there was a mistake or you would have done otherwise?

" We should have responded faster to Ben Gurion Airport - it brought a lot We opened the sky very willingly, we defined red and green countries and I think maybe we should have closed Ben Gurion Airport faster, probably with the flights from Dubai that led to high morbidity. "

According to Prof. Levy," Another point is the differential closures, which happened before the second closure .

There was a stage where we closed 40 red settlements, including at night, and it brought nothing.

People walked the streets, left the settlements, all were defined as vital - it did more harm and anger than good.

"Later we avoided locksmiths with this method, we realized that it was impossible to enforce them - it was not serious."

"Government decides to prioritize education over trade"

"A good thing we did was that we integrated the Home Front Command," notes Prof. Levy.

"It brought and built contagion chain cutting capabilities and control, more than the Ministry of Health did alone - it was a power multiplier. When it comes to such a mass event, which is bigger than a purely medical event, one has to mobilize all the resources that the business knows in an emergency."

Looking back, could it be that you should have given priority to the education system, more than you gave?

"I think they gave priority to the education system, but it should be understood that all the graphs, even around the world, show that a large opening of the education system has led to widespread infection. I do not enter into the question of whether they were infected in school, but if people are in class for a whole day. The rules - it creates contagion.

We wanted to open the branches in a certain order and not in a hurry. When the ministers wanted to open both kindergartens and schools and the trade together - it bothered us, especially when you do not know where the disease comes from. The government decided to prioritize education over trade. This was a stage where it was decided to prioritize trade alongside education, but it does not really work. "

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"If you are in class all day - it creates contagion."

Students return to schools, November (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Levy: "We felt uncomfortable that we had to give names of the unvaccinated, and we also feel uncomfortable where there are GSS and bracelets."

What is the main thing you learned during this period?

"Learn to share and learn from other people, even those who sit every Saturday night and bother to give advice and tell the people of Israel 'the Ministry of Health was wrong' - you need to hear them. That's why the first thing I did when I entered this position was a conference of experts, within which there are people who slandered. "Emergency and one of the important things to overcome emergencies is cooperation and coordination between all the authorities."

Are you afraid that the invasion of privacy and rights will continue after the corona, that something has cracked and will not return to the way it was?

"No, not at all," Levy states emphatically.

"We also felt uncomfortable when we had to give names of the unvaccinated, and we also feel uncomfortable where there are GSS and bracelets.

But at the point where you are confronting the public right to health with the public that has not really kept the rules - in this place the goal sanctifies the means to prevent disease and reduce infections.

I think you have to be smart and smart enough to allow it in an emergency and take it out when you can - I have no goal of being the big brother. "

"We should have reacted faster."

Passengers at Ben Gurion Airport (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Ash: "I think if we had taken the steps earlier we might not have reached the peak we reached"

Which more project did you connect to?

"Roni and Nachman are two very different people. Roni introduced a change in thinking with the harnessing of the army and the establishment of the drone and disks.

Nachman is a knowledgeable and dedicated man with a lot of emotional intelligence.

Both contributed greatly.

On a personal note - it is not easy for me as CEO to accept Roni 'as CEO', but he has qualities that can only be learned from.

In the end we found a way to work together in love.

I have known Nachman for years, and I am the one who asked him to come.

We work lovingly together. "

What will the office look like the day after?

" We are busy with that now.

We started a welfare project for hospital and community workers, who saw pain and death and worked non-stop and fought within the corona - we want to heal their souls and bodies.

We want to heal the people, who were afraid, who were in closures, who lost relatives, who saw their life enterprise destroyed.

The main goal - must increase and thicken the health system.

Need to appoint a lot of people and fill the lines in the office.

I must say that there is a good feeling in the office and I want it to continue. "

Appointed fire sources

think the critical mistake of office was just before the closure of the third." The point I would do differently this stop before the third wave early and get to the peak we were, "said Ash gently Seller His. "We said that then in real time but we could not influence enough.

It took a while for a decision to be made on the weakest closure, followed by the tightened closure - which started the decline.

I think that if we had taken the steps earlier, we might not have reached the peak we reached. "

"The health care system must be enlarged and thickened."

Levy (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Why have you not been able to convey the seriousness of the situation to the decision makers?

"Because it is difficult to make decisions about early closure, because of the significance that the economy and education have. In government and cabinet discussions it was difficult to pass it. We had a broad opposition, not in the political sense. Everyone said 'let's wait a little longer.' "Even before I took office. I think the decisions have to be made earlier, but it's not easy. Even in the days when we talked that there might be a fourth wave, I thought to myself when it was right to stop. It is always better to stop early, but it is difficult."

Do you still think there could be a fourth wave here?

"I think in some situations it is still possible to get there, but I am optimistic and appreciate that we will not get there."

Ash is particularly concerned about the education system: "If the education system can be run without masks, without capsules and shorten the isolation days, it could lead to a strong outbreak among children and adults who have not been vaccinated. Today, unlike two weeks ago, I am much more optimistic and appreciate not getting there. It is not our responsibility that this could happen. "

"There will be more dead from Corona - the disease will not completely disappear"

We reached more than 6,000 dead.

Is it a failure?

"It's a painful fact and each one is a world in its entirety. I remember in the beginning of the plague there was a discourse that the dead only have background diseases, today we know that is not true and that many of them could be with us. If we did not reach the big numbers, we could save more lives "In an international comparison, the number of our deaths in relation to the verified rate is relatively low," he says, although in relation to the population the mortality rate in Israel is among the highest in the world.

"I guess it has to do with good health care and maybe other genetics, there are things we do not know. Failures can be drawn in Italy and the Czech Republic - really serious things happened there. I'm not saying we did everything possible, there were things we could have done differently, but I would not Uses the word failure. "

Mortality rates are falling, there are estimates when we will reach 7,000 dead?

"I do not know how to predict if and when we will reach 7,000 deaths. We may get there, but I hope the downward trend will continue, and with it we have 20-10 deaths every day. There will be more deaths from Corona - the disease will not completely disappear. As long as we know how to keep numbers "I hope we reach herd immunity. Then the disease will stay with us but in a different way."

"Our death toll relative to the verified is low."

Corona Department in Hillel Yaffe (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Many citizens think that the wide-open opening is related to the election, and you also said that there is political intervention, and Prof. Blitzer said that the team of experts did not recommend such an opening.

How dangerous is this opening?

"The whole opening plan is ours - that of the professionals. We built it and presented it to the cabinet a month and a half ago, before leaving the quarantine. It was not a specific date, but we estimated that it could be opened faster because of the vaccines. There were scary steps along the way, there were sayings - Also in our professional team - 'We will not reach the third beat because the indices will go up and we will have to stop.' But even the pessimists among us were enthusiastic about the results that allowed the opening. I can not blame the political system for opening, on the other hand there were pressures. "We went for a careful, considered and relatively quick opening. We set goals, and we met them at every point of time, including in the third beat that we were right on the border."

Are you angry about the unvaccinated?

"I'm not angry. I think they're wrong and make the wrong decision. I'm more sorry they do not understand than angry. The decision is first and foremost for himself, and I do not want to be in a country that forces people to get vaccinated. There's the individual's choice and that's fine."

"I do not want to be in a country that forces people to get vaccinated. There is the choice of the individual here."

Fire (Photo: Reuven Castro)

On the other hand, many think that the ministry makes statements in front of the new varieties and tends to intimidate the public unnecessarily.

With the exception of the British mutation, the other mutations did not constitute a problematic factor.

"We had no intention of intimidating, and certainly not doing it for nothing. We have a responsibility to paint the reality and the risk that could be caused later. We could not predict the spread of the mutations, in terms of which mutation would win. We are lucky that the winner of this spread is the British mutation the vaccine works it well. Although it causes more morbidity and possibly disease more difficult, but there is no doubt that the greatest risk of this mutation in the vaccine did not work on it. the mutation South African vaccine works a little less good, but I believe that it would not spread widely.

can be "There will be a mutation that the vaccine will not work on and it will spread among all the vaccinated. Theoretically it exists - it is impossible not to say it. It is better to say than to later say why you did not say. I think we were just as careful."

The problem at Ben Gurion Airport has not been solved, and it seems that it is only growing when there are now more entrants and there is not enough enforcement or bracelets. How do you solve this?

"It is definitely an opening through which mutations can enter, also dangerous mutations and can also form a local mutation.

It is impossible to prevent it 100%, steps must be taken to reduce the risk.

This whole epidemic is risk management.

Even theoretically we could not really stop all flights and lock ourselves in the house, seemingly it was possible to use more difficult means - but they have a very difficult meaning.

I do not think it is possible in the State of Israel to reach 0 infection, we need to take realistic steps, especially in the development and arrival of mutations. "

"You might get a mutation that the vaccine won't work on."

Pfizer vaccines (Photo: Reuters)

How do you think our lives are going to look in two months?

Shall we take off the masks?

"Towards the summer the masks will become an increasing burden. If the level of morbidity remains low then I estimate this is a point in time we will start taking them off, probably at the beginning outside. I would like us to go for steps that will allow more discretion to the citizen. "If you approach someone, you are in a crowd, enter a closed place - put on a mask. In other places I do not care - epidemiologically the risk is small, but it is confusing and will cause the mask to be used. At this point we want over use and not underuse."

What is your future in the office?

Do you want to be Deputy CEO?

”The role of projector is a temporary one and I hope very soon there will be no need for it.

"The position of deputy CEO has become vacant. When a tender comes out, I will bid for the tender. At the moment, I am all in this position."

The outgoing deputy director general,

Prof. Grotto

, is the only one who has accompanied the epidemic in the ministry from its inception until the last month he left office. He sums up the crisis differently and is not afraid to point the finger of blame at politicians: "Inside the ministry we were not intimidated by the mutations.

There was pressure from the political echelon around the mutations.

It scared politicians, from all parties.

There were differences in attitudes within the firm regarding the risks, I felt that in some of the incident the risks managed us and not us managed them.

"It was necessary to fix after the rush at Ben Gurion Airport, and the political echelon exaggerated."

Grotto also believes that the number of deaths in Israel is the least bad: "6,000 is not a failure, but an achievement. Maybe we could drop a drop on the margins, but not on a large scale. We succeeded because the medical treatment was good. In any case, in Israel it was impossible to reach 0 Infection - It does not fit into our culture. "

"I have no doubt that epidemic management needs testing, I don't know in what format. Research is a basic thing. It should be at a level above the Ministry of Health," Grotto states.

"The best period was for Gamzo, although it did not end in the form of success. He declared that there was no closure and there was a closure, but he instilled a different way of managing the crisis. He got into a difficult political situation."

"The best time was for Gamzo."

Grotto (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Grotto: "The reference to the sectors was not correct. Gamzo entered with the ultra-Orthodox head on"

Looking at the breaches in the sectors, do you think the sector management was good or failed?

"The ministry made an effort to have a respectful dialogue with all sectors, there are desks for Arabs and ultra-Orthodox. The residents trusted them to represent them and they represented them in the cabinet. We did information and I felt that in the ministry we work with them correctly. Gimzo's big mistake was that the treatment was incorrect. "The ultra-Orthodox were head to head and that was not true. The corona was a mirror of social phenomena and perhaps intensified them, so it was noticeable that society that the Arab and ultra-Orthodox in Israel are on our social fringes."

Where was the hardest point?

"The hardest part was getting out of the second wave and trying to start after it. The first wave was easy and the citizens cooperated on their part - they realized there was a problem," Grotto explains.

"I remember before the second closure there was a conversation with all the executives and suddenly I told them we needed a closure. Everyone was in the market because Gamzo led a position to avoid closure as much as possible and I was with him. After that we tried to open fast, took risks and realized it was trial and error."

Grotto gasps, it is clear to him that this was a difficult time for him, after which he decided to end his role.

"In the third wave, hope was created and it was already much less difficult," he concludes.

The three senior officials sounded encouraging, optimistic and expressed hope that we were on the road to getting out of the crisis.

The feeling of victory is felt in every corner of the Ministry of Health in Jerusalem and in the control center at Air Port City.

On the other hand, it is clear to everyone that the health care system must now be rehabilitated and left at the center of the public and media agenda.

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