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As the world’s first country, Israel has a second national blockade. Lessons can also be drawn from its mistakes in other countries.
In Israel, masks are also required outdoors: a large banner in the center of Tel Aviv aims to encourage people to wear a mask.
Photo: Keystone
Government of Israel did three weeks ago like mefirst country in the world one second statewide lockdown tax. At first, the number of new corona infections increased every day, but in early October Israel set a new record with more than 9,000 cases. Now there is a downward trend. As the Ministry of Health today is Friday announced wthey plot 3,692 new cases registered on Thursday.
According to several national and foreign academics, schools play a central role in the second wave of pandemics in Israel. The school openings are the Treiber the high number of corona cases, says Eran Segal in a report in the Times of Israel newspaper. Segal is a researcher at the Weizmann Institute of Sciences in Rechovot, and is considered one of Israel’s leading Covid-19 statisticians.
Segal also posts his findings and evaluations on Twitter. The mistakes Israel made might Lessons for other countries in the fight against the pandemic to be. Four points are important:
No schools are open when the number of cases increases dramatically
A Posted by Segal The graph shows how new corona infections rose rapidly after schools opened after summer break in the second half of August.megen. By early July, corona cases had already passed the 1,000 mark. The government’s decision to set maximum limits for gatherings of people led to the stabilization of new infections. However, the opening of schools was quickly accompanied by an upward trend in corona cases.
Segal recommends against opening schools if the number of cases increases dramatically and the infection rate is high. It gives an R value of 1 (the reproduction number R indicates how many people infects an infected person on average). Opening schools would only exacerbate the pandemic. School operations are ineffective anyway if many children and teachers must be quarantined.
In Israel, schools reopened in mid-May after the first closure. In the beginning there were strict rules. The students were taught in small groups. For the elderly, a mask was also required in class, in the meantime the windows had to stay open. And the tables should be separated by two meters. Apparently, the schools returned to normal operation too quickly. Soon the classrooms were as full again as before the pandemic broke out.as stated in the media reports. Ronit Calderon-Margalit, a public health researcher at the University of Jerusalem, described teaching in Israeli schools as “the ideal prerequisite for a crown outbreak.”
In other countries, schools are so far not known as drivers of the pandemic. However, this aspect has not yet been sufficiently investigated scientifically. the Recently published “Hello Corona” -Studie The University of Zurich found no evidence that children are spreading the coronavirus to a large extent. An ongoing follow-up study is investigating how infectious children can be. This fall, it will also be possible to better assess the influence schools have on the number of corona cases.
The healthcare system is reaching its limits faster than expected
IngramAround his analysis, Eran Segal recommends early action in the fight against the pandemic. An uncontrollable increase in new infections should be avoided. The capabilities of a health system are achieved much faster than is commonly assumed. Low death rates or empty intensive care units are often misleading snapshots. The country’s health system has been under pressure for a long time. meExperts had repeatedly named 800 cases of seriously ill Covid 19 patients as a critical mark of a healthcare system overload. According to the Ministry of Health, the number of critical cases is already too high. The speed with which a country’s healthcare system can reach its limits can also be seen today in the Corona Spain hotspot, where Madrid’s hospitals are overloaded.
The virus in the young inevitably also reaches the elderly
Furthermore, Eran Segal draws attention to a law. The Corona outbreak among the younger population groups will inevitably reach the older population groups within a few weeks, he writes on Twitter. Older people and people with previous illnesses are at higher risk of developing Covid-19. The courses of serious diseases are also increasing. This increases stress on health systems. Segal shows that the coronavirus is passing from younger people to older people based on the spread of infections in Israel’s ultra-Orthodox population, which is affected more than average by Corona.
Certain sectors of the population ignore the rules
Eran Segal affirms that a confinement can have different consequences in a heterogeneous population, depending on the behavior of different population groups. Two weeks after the blockade was imposed on Israel, the outbreak of Corona inorth the general population can slow down. On the contrary, the number of new infections among strict religious continued to rise.
Social distancing and protection with masks: an ultra-Orthodox man praying and a soldier in Jerusalem.
Photo: Keystone
Approximately 1.1 million ultra-Orthodox Jews live in Israel. That corresponds roughly 12 Percentage of the population. Still, about 40 percent of all new infections in this part of the population tried. Young people and ultra-Orthodox men pray or celebrate strongly pushed. Trend to hold you short distance, don’t wear masks. Many of its communities ignore the state’s crown requirements. But it’s not just breaking the rulesgramaround their way of life leading to increased of the Main crown case numbers. A considerable part of the ultra-Orthodox population lives in conditions of poverty and overcrowding.
This connects the ultra-Orthodox with the second group of the population whose number of cases has increased in recent weeks: the Israeli Arabs. Authorities blamed large weddings, in particular, for the almost uncontrolled spread of the corona virus between them at times.
