On one of the days of the first wave of the Corona, at a time when we, the Israelis, were grieving that we could not spend Seder night with grandparents, the French authorities issued official instructions for prioritizing the care of the sick.
According to the same guidelines, physicians were asked to give priority in treatment to patients who were more likely to survive, based in part on age parameter.
In a kind of horrible and sterile version of the "Hunger Games," or of Russian roulette with a pre-determined outcome, doctors were explained the rules of the game, according to which they must treat the young patient first versus the old patient.
The directives terrified many in France, and a letter of protest was published by doctors, including many Jews, who announced that they would not obey these inhuman instructions and reminded the French government of the Hippocratic oath that doctors would not allow "age considerations" to stand between their duties and those of their patients.
When all this happened, I felt a huge pride in the State of Israel, which is ready to stop the whole economy to protect its elders.
It was for me the proof of the infinite importance we have to life.
In the current wave, things are different, for better or for worse.
On the one hand, the omicron looks - on the face of it - as a variant - "lighter" than its predecessors.
On the other hand, we have no idea what its long-term implications are.
On the other hand, the elderly may be seriously ill - according to the published data, they make up the majority of the severely ill and breathing patients in this wave.
And finally, as we all see, the omicron expands like fire in a field of thorns.
Faced with this information, the government decided to go in the direction of mass infection - by the way, without telling us.
The shortening of isolations, the abolition of the obligation of isolation in the education system, the opening of the sky, the lack of restrictions, and only the mask that reminds us that the corona has not yet left us.
It just seems to me that in this run to open the economy we forgot our adults?
I understand, parents are tired of the endless isolations of their children.
I also understood that the Minister of Finance was not willing to put his hand in his pocket and give compensation to those who had lost a significant portion of their income in the "de facto closure" that fell on us.
I understand that the Minister of Education does what she pleases, and that the Minister of Health does not really count the Prime Minister.
But who counts the elders?
Where are the clear guidelines regarding them?
For their families?
Have we given them up on the altar of the magic word "farm"?
And why even say between them?
No one is asking for a closure: this is an unconsumed and disproportionate step in front of the Omicron, but who said that clear, sharp instructions, not just "recommendations", can be given regarding those aged 60 and over?
At the beginning of the corona we proved to the world that for us, life is first and foremost.
Let us not lose this moral advantage.
Let's not throw them away in old age.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
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