About a third of working Israelis (32%) state that they missed work days in the past week, and only about a third of Israelis (27%) state that their children attend school in the last week.
The rest indicate that their children did not study at all (20%) or only partially (53%), according to a survey by Israel Today, conducted this week by Prof. Yitzhak Katz from the "Brain Pool" among 508 participants aged 18 and over Of the entire adult Israeli population.
These data confirm what every Israeli living here in the fifth wave of the Corona sees and feels in his flesh, that in practice there is a "quiet closure" - the nickname of health experts for a closure that actually exists due to widespread, threatening and dangerous spread of epidemic - and not a result of a closure declaration. Here and in many countries in the world in the previous corona waves, and still today in some countries like China and the Netherlands.
The "quiet closure" can be seen and felt in every sector and area of public life outside the home - from the semi-empty schools, the relatively vacant roads, the half-empty public transportation, mass-canceling cultural events, and the semi-desolate malls and shopping centers.
This very serious situation from a health, economic and social point of view, which is also reflected in the survey, is in complete contradiction to the smug and detached statements of some government ministers, such as Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who spoke of "full restaurants" - or the Minister of Education, who says 90% From the students in the schools learn as usual.
Therefore, it is no wonder that the "Israel Today" survey shows that the public gives the lowest scores and ratings for functioning in the corona crisis to the Minister of Education, Shasha Bitton (only 18% rated her with good and very good grades), to the Minister of Finance Lieberman (only 20%), followed by: Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz (23%), Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (25%), Yair Lapid (26%), and Bnei Gantz with 35% who rated him with good and very good grades.
According to the survey, only 22% of the public give the government a high score (good and very good) for treating the corona crisis, 30% give the government a moderate score and almost half of the respondents (48%) give it a poor score for its performance in the biggest health crisis in the world. The last 100 years.
No trust
The survey data indicate that it is impossible to deceive and deceive the public, and that public confidence in the government and social solidarity in Israel is at a very dangerous low.
All this, at a time of record highs in Corona since the onset of the epidemic, and when public trust in the health care system and government is critical and determines citizens' responsiveness and compliance with recommendations, directives, guidelines and regulations - designed to mitigate the epidemic and reduce public harm.
The whole system of instructions of the fight against the plague cannot and cannot be based solely on enforcement and punishment, and therefore the public's trust, combined with a sense of solidarity, will determine our degree of compliance with the Corona's instructions.
It now seems that the public is less and less trusting in these provisions and in the common sense of solidarity.
The government had quite a bit of time to prepare for the current wave of the Omicron variant before it arrived in Israel, by establishing many more mass testing complexes, through the four HMOs - which have the most extensive deployment of health services in Israel;
By promoting vaccines much more widely, including in all schools, while overcoming the unforgivable barriers set by the Minister of Education;
By preparing the education system for serious and effective distance learning when needed;
And by the preparation of the hospitals for the treatment of the severely ill and respiratory patients.
Return the restrictions
The public and medical interest should have long been the imposition of crowd restrictions to moderate the outbreak, and return to distance learning and work to moderate the damage to the economy, but unfortunately, Prime Minister Bennett does not and did not have the political power within his government to do so. To fight for the health of us all.
But on the other hand, there is and is a particularly weak and bewildered management in the Ministry of Health, and there is a Ministry of Finance and a Minister of Finance that cruelly manage in the meantime not to pay even one shekel to the hundreds of thousands of victims of corona restrictions and isolation.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us