In the past week, efforts to curb the fourth wave of Corona virus appear to be bearing fruit, with the infection coefficient falling below 1, indicating a contraction in the rate of infection.
Against this background we have tried to understand whether this is positive news or perhaps it is still too early to determine that the fourth wave has been halted.
We addressed this question to experts in the corona government advisory team.
The experts expressed, with great caution, optimism regarding Israel's situation, but noted that there is still a long way to go before the state and there is currently no room for easing the rules of distance and guidelines.
"Mortality rate is still very high"
Prof. Nadav Davidovich, a public health expert and director of the Public Health School at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, believes that the decline in the coefficient of infection below 1 is encouraging, but care must still be taken not to remove the various restrictions decided by the government before Tishrei.
“Firstly the decrease in the coefficient of infection is positive and it seems that the vaccination campaign, as well as the arrival of more people to get vaccinated with the first vaccines, has currently helped to curb the spread of the virus along with all social expulsions.
Prof. Nadav Davidovich // Photo: Danny Mechles, Ben Gurion University,
"However, there are still thousands of infections every day and the Delta mutation is very contagious, so certainly after the Tishrei holiday it is not worth starting to talk about easing the gathering restrictions and the rules of distance. We still need to see how the school year opened But at the same time you have to be careful because you can easily lose control when there are so many people infected per day. "
He added: "Also, we need to segment the public who have not yet been vaccinated, those 900,000 Israelis who have not yet received a single dose of vaccine and reach out to them and convince them to get vaccinated. I am also a little worried about the mortality rate, which still stands at 30-20 people per day." .
Prof. Nachman Ash: "We see the braking of the fourth wave // Photo: GPO
Regarding the MU mutation that is now spreading around the world, Prof. Davidovich says: "The mutation is being monitored and is also highly contagious, but it does not seem to be worrying at the moment. In any case, people need to understand that the virus is here .
The damage to the virus is great and dangerous
Professor Doron Gazit of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences said: "Optimism is not the right word, but an understanding that we are currently able to contain the fourth wave outbreak and we will not reach congestion in hospitals we saw in the third wave of the epidemic." It is difficult and some will develop symptoms of a long corona - this is not true.
"The situation is still not good and there is also no small mortality rate at all which is also not good. However the drop in the coefficient of infection below one means that we are in the braking of the wave. It is a good sign but we still need to see the amount of people "This year, when people had to break their routine and not celebrate the holiday meal with the family for fear of infection. Therefore, it can be said that the direction is positive, but there is another way to do in the field."
Tens of thousands continue to come to be tested
Meanwhile, MDA also reports a large influx of people to the rapid test stations to detect infection with the corona virus. Nadav Matzner, MDA spokesman, told Israel Today: "There are 15,000 people in the country, which is even greater than the rate of tests on Rosh Hashanah. Every day, 20,000 people came to MDA, so today more people may come to be tested."
