Middle schools set to open May 17, classes nixed today
Finance Ministry aims to reopen restaurants, cafés next week
The Education and Health ministries have agreed that middle schoolers will return to their classrooms next Sunday, May 17.
Classes of 20 children each will meet two or three days per week, depending on whether or not they share their building with older kids. Students and teachers will be required to wear masks.
No decision was reached regarding kids in grades four through six, who will continue with full-time distant learning.
To the frustration of many parents, schools – many that only opened this week or last – will be closed on Tuesday for Lag Ba’omer, despite efforts by the Finance Ministry to convince the Teachers Union otherwise.
The Finance Ministry sent a letter to Teachers Union head Yaffa Ben-David in which it recommended that schools open on Tuesday, and in exchange school would be canceled on an upcoming Friday this year and one next year.
In response, the union responded: “I am sorry that you continue to misrepresent the facts. Ms. Ben-David sees no point in such unnecessary correspondence, the sole purpose of which is the ongoing deception and misconduct of the public toward the country’s teaching staff.”
The Education Ministry refused to intervene and so no decision for change was reached, leaving parents without an option for their children on Lag Ba’omer.
At the same time, the Finance Ministry aims to bring forward the reopening of the battered restaurant and cafe sector as early as May 20 under new proposals that officials will present to the Health
Ministry later this week.
The plan, expected to be discussed at a meeting on Wednesday by the two ministries, is based on the formulation of a restaurant-specific set of “purple badge” hygiene standards and comes as the number of coronavirus cases continues to decline.
The number of active cases dropped to 4,406 on Monday morning – among them only 58 who are intubated. So far, 258 people have died.
While the government’s coronavirus exit strategy plan includes the reopening of restaurants at the end of May or in mid-June, the Finance Ministry’s plan follows an appeal by Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai last week to reopen restaurants and bars at an earlier date, warning that waiting until at least the end of May will result in many shutting down.
“In light of the infection data and the importance of returning employees and the economy to operations, we suggest
bringing forward the reopening of restaurants and cafés to May 20,” wrote Ran Kiviti, director of the Finance Ministry’s Small and Medium Businesses Agency, in a letter to Health Ministry deputy director-general Itamar Grotto.
Citing wide-ranging discussions with representatives of the restaurant sector, the Finance Ministry’s restaurant-specific “purple badge” criteria are in addition to standards required for all industries, including employee health questionnaires, temperature checks, disinfection of surfaces, maintaining distances between waiting customers and the supply of hygiene products.
For restaurants and cafés, additional demands include washing dishes at 70°, kitchen staff always wearing masks, cleaning chairs and tables after every diner, and setting the table only after customers are sitting down. A distance of one meter will be required between tables, and 40 cm. between the backs of chairs. Customers will need to wear masks when entering and leaving the restaurant.
According to data published by the Finance Ministry last week, approximately 64,400 restaurant industry employees are currently seeking unemployment benefits. Only the education sector, with 65,000 impacted employees, exceeded those impacted by the coronavirus outbreak in the restaurant industry.
Speaking to reporters last week, Israel Restaurants Association CEO Shai Berman accused the government of “cheating” the nation’s restaurateurs and bar owners, and calling government assistance packages “one big bluff.”
“We have seen IKEA opening, the malls opening and the gyms opening, and we cannot understand why we are closed – we feel cheated,” Berman said.
“We watch pretentious press conferences every evening at prime time, hearing the prime minister and Tax Authority director talking about how they are transferring money to us at the push of a button. The vast majority of workers and entrepreneurs in the restaurant sector have not seen one shekel of assistance.”
MEANWHILE, Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman Tov, who is most associated with the fight against coronavirus and has been directly involved in determining the country’s emergency regulations, has denied a report by Ynet that he is considering stepping down from his role.
Bar Siman Tov has recently