Here we go again. Once lauded for masterminding one of the most efficient nationwide responses to the coronavirus pandemic, Israel can now claim the dubious distinction of being one of the only countries to send its citizens to a second lockdown.
The cabinet-approved measures, which will go into effect on the eve of Rosh Hashanah for three weeks, through Simhat Torah, include a closure of the school system, a 500-meter movement restriction from home, and the lockdown of restaurants, shopping centers and businesses that offer leisure and recreational activities.
It sounds awfully familiar, but there are some big differences between the state of the country at the beginning of the March shutdown and today.
When the first lockdown was announced, there was near-unanimous compliance and acceptance by the populace. There was fear and confusion surrounding coronavirus and a belief that the decision makers had a plan in place that would, if not subdue the pandemic, at least bring it under control to enable a return to a semblance of normalcy.
Indeed, during the first lockdown, the number of new daily cases plummeted to the tens by the time the shutdown was lifted in May. At that time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israelis must be vigilant and a lockdown would return if new daily cases passed 100, the doubling time of infection was less than 10 days and the number of patients in serious condition reached 250.
Well, we passed those markers long ago on the way to another dubious distinction – leading the world in the daily COVID-19 infection rate per capita, and being the country where the morbidity rate has accelerated the fastest.
Will the newly-announced three-week lockdown achieve anything remotely resembling the first? Many health experts are saying that to be effective in reducing the number of new daily cases back to a manageable level of under 100 a day, a lockdown of much longer – up to eight weeks – is required.
Another factor is whether Israel’s citizens, spooked into compliance during the first lockdown, will bother to heed the new guidelines. There has been a loss of faith in the country’s decision makers as they have stumbled from one directive to another, sometimes within the same day.
But the main question, assuming that the shutdown does achieve its goals and significantly reduces the number of Israelis being infected, is what then?
If Israel opens up like it did before, we can expect another spike in infections in no time and increased burden on the health system, even more so as we enter the already sicklier winter months.
Now is the time for the government and the officials in charge of our well-being to plan for the day, week and year after the shutdown. Our contact tracing system must be improved to immediately identify infected people, instead of a 48-hour lag that enables them to mingle among the population and infect others.
A solution must be found for the opening and functioning of schools that doesn’t endanger teachers and the parents and grandparents of pupils. The current pod system does not seem to be working.
Hand in hand with the formulation and implementation of a post-lockdown plan, however, comes the issue of personal responsibility. It’s all too easy to say: The prime minister and the president hosted family members in violation of the restrictions, the haredim/Arabs/leftists/ (take your pick) are going to weddings/protests/cafes/beaches, so why shouldn’t I?
That grade-school mentality of using others as a scapegoat has to change if Israel is to weather this storm.
As of Sunday, Health Ministry figures showed that since the start of the crisis, 153,759 people in Israel have caught the virus, with 114,635 recovering, 38,008 cases active and 1,108 dead. This is an emergency of the first degree and if a closure can do something to halt the avalanche, then we must all bite the bullet and abide by it.
It’s time to change our way of thinking. As the country’s coronavirus commissioner Ronni Gamzu said Sunday, paraphrasing John F. Kennedy, ask not what the government can do to beat corona, ask what you can do to beat corona.