Tuesday, June 16, 2020

‘‘Gov’t failing to stop second wave of coronavirus”


By Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman   June 16, 2020        
 Full article at https://tinyurl.com/y7u7zmsg
According to Weizmann Institute of Science Prof. Eli Waxman who headed the panel of experts advising the National Security Council during the first wave of COVID-19. “There are no miracles here there is a reasonable chance we’ll have to reinstate the closures because the Health Ministry is not doing what it needs to do.”
Speaking with The Jerusalem Post on a day that 258 more people were infected with the novel coronavirus and the number of serious patients increased by four, including four more who are intubated, he said the public should take note that while the number of serious people in intensive-care units is low, “it is the fraction we would expect. For every 400 new people, we expect two or three new ICU patients with a delay of about a week, and this is what we see. The numbers are not surprising.”
On Tuesday, the Health Ministry reported that 14,371 people were screened for coronavirus, making the country’s infection rate for the day around 1.8%. The rate on Monday was close to 2%. Health experts believe that if the infection rate surpasses 1% for too long, there is a likelihood that the health system could be overwhelmed.
“We see a direct correlation between the opening of the economy and the rise in morbidity,” Prof. Sigal Sadetsky said Tuesday at the Knesset. “There are significant increases in the number of cases found throughout the country, with an emphasis on children.
The geographic spread of the virus in Israel is being called a “second wave..
According to the Health Ministry, 690 medical staff throughout Israel are in quarantine. Also, some 627 students and faculty are infected, the Education Ministry said. Some 168 schools are closed, and there are 21,807 students and staff in isolation.
Moreover, a report by the Health Ministry shows that the virus is spreading throughout the country, including in Arab and haredi (ultra-Orthodox) cities, which had among the highest per capita rates of infection during the first coronavirus peak.
 “Bnei Brak is back on the map, there is mass infection [among] foreign immigrants [in southern Tel Aviv], the virus is all over Israel; I am not sure what is scarier,” Prof. Gabi Barbash, a former director-general of the Health Ministry said.
Waxman said the only way to stop the spread now is to implement fast contact tracing to enable the Health Ministry to cut off the infection chain, “but that is not operative.”
People are not aware of the danger, or maybe they are fed up with all these rules and the fact that we were isolated and could not celebrate Passover or Independence Day. But studies show that wearing masks can reduce the rate of infection by as much as 85%, so the government should make people do it, he said.
While one cannot predict the future, if only around 2% of the population was thus far exposed to the virus – as preliminary antibody testing results have shown – and if the hot weather has little impact on transmission, there is little reason to believe that anything has changed.
“I don’t want to sound too dramatic, but we already see a rise in critical patients,” he said.
The coronavirus cabinet is expected to meet Wednesday evening to discuss the situation. Health Ministry officials are reportedly planning to ask to put a halt to opening up any more of the country, while politicians are likely going to push to allow cultural events and institutions to resume operation.
Cabinet members have committed not to go backward and to continue with the country’s policy of designating red zones. Currently there are four: southern Tel Aviv, Rahat, Hura and Arara. At the meeting, the cabinet is expected to decide on Ashdod, Baka al-Gharbiya, Bnei Brak, Elad and Netivot.
Hospital health professionals have said they could handle about another 1,000 intubated coronavirus patients. After that, the hospitals would need more ventilators, more doctors, more nurses and an increased budget.

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