More than two million students will go on the Hanukkah holiday tomorrow, with their regular return to the school bench next Tuesday threatening the new strain of the corona - Omicron.
The variant is very disturbing to the health system because it has a variety of abnormal mutations, and appears to have the ability to spread rapidly.
This probably means an increased risk of unvaccinated students being infected with the virus, probably in crowded classrooms or at Hanukkah performances over the next few days.
"Undoubtedly, there is going to be a significant impact of the new strain on the education system," says Prof. Nadav Davidovich, director of the Public Health School at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and a member of the expert cabinet.
"The green classroom solution will have to be re-examined. If the strain spreads, this model probably will not be able to continue, but the data will have to wait and see. "Even if the vaccine is found to be less effective against the new strain, it will probably still be effective, albeit to a lesser extent, and the vaccines, along with other tools, will contribute significantly."
2.4 million excited students open the school year // Photo: Shmuel Buharis, Yaniv Zohar
"There is not enough enforcement"
Yesterday the number of isolated students was 25,471.
Another 4,395 students were reported to be active corona blues.
About 106 corona patients were found over the weekend, but this is a low figure compared to the number of new students who were found to be blue in the middle of the week.
There are also 220 active sick teaching staff and another 402 teachers in isolation.
One of the big questions is how the Hanukkah holiday will affect morbidity in the education system.
Use all tools
According to Prof. Davidovich, "Students who are abroad on Hanukkah will need isolation similar to adults to make sure they do not carry the virus.
If discipline is loosened and people do not pay attention to masks and physical distance - we may see more patients back from vacation.
There is certainly a possibility of contagion in Hanukkah performances, but there is also a possibility of contagion in schools.
They would do well to set up immunization booths near the concert halls, which could boost immunizations.
We need to slow down the spread of this strain with all possible tools. "
Teacher receives corona certificates from students, archive // Photo: Oren Ben Hakon,
He adds that there are measures that although decided on are not yet implemented.
"Guidelines should mainly be enforced, which is not done well, such as adhering to masks indoors, even in classrooms. Corona trustees should be appointed where they are not, both at the school level and at the local authority level. Now it is not working well enough."
In recent days, more and more cases of corona outbreaks have been revealed in schools, but this year, unlike its predecessor, the Ministry of Education is not publishing the full data.
With the arrival of Minister Yifat Shasha Bitton to the ministry, the policy was changed, and the ministry does not publish data claiming that the authority authorized to disseminate the disease data to the public is the Ministry of Health.
"The Ministry of Education has a control center that knows how to monitor every class, school or kindergarten - this is a situation of almost three million students and teachers in the country, and we published these data every day," says Amit Edri, former director general of the Ministry of Education during Former Education Minister Yoav Galant.
Tests for students, archive, photo: Yehoshua Yosef
"The Ministry of Education, led by Galant, was responsible for the education system and acted transparently with the public. Publishing the data is part of the system's responsibility and commitment to students, teachers and parents."
Edri adds: "I understand, the Ministry of Education's view is that there will be no learning in small groups. The computer infrastructure that has been laid and the computers provided allow for continuous physical learning in educational institutions. The question is what the government will decide and where the Ministry of Health will draw."
Since the discovery of Omicron, the education system has been broadcasting business as usual, but if the gloomy predictions come true - there will be more and more red cities, which will prevent regular studies or lead to online learning in Zoom.
In the field of online learning the Ministry of Education has not yet bridged all the gaps.
Since the previous acquisition of End Means, no survey has been conducted to learn about the existing shortage and no more kits have been purchased for students.
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