Joint List MK positive for coronavirus, Knesset shut,
and their parents. The number of serious and intubated patients is still on the decline. Thursday night, there were 30 people in serious condition, including 23 on ventilators.
For perspective, between Sunday and Thursday last week (May 24-28), the average number of new cases daily was 29. This week, between Sunday and Thursday, the average number of new cases was 80.
In one day, 6,865 students and teachers entered isolation, according to the Education Ministry, bringing the total number to 13,691.
Moreover, some 301 students and teachers have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, an increase of 57 since Wednesday.
The cases are spread across the country, with the greatest number still in Jerusalem (53 in the last three days), according to the Health Ministry. Other places with high infection rates include Tel Aviv (25 in the last three days), Beersheba (17), Bnei Brak (15) and Ashdod (14).
Some 87 schools are closed, more than double the day before. Among them are schools in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Givatayim, Jaffa, Petah Tivka, Sderot and Tel Aviv. They include elementary schools, high schools and religious and secular institutions.
The spike in infections has led to an increase in the number of people asking to be tested, which has put a strain on the health funds, whose labs handle the screenings.
Thursday afternoon, Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem announced it has received appeals from the health funds for help. Since the outbreak at Gymnasia Rehavia over Shavuot, Jerusalem’s labs have been performing hundreds of tests per day, in addition to the hundreds done by Magen David Adom, Hadassah said.
In a letter to the Health Ministry, Kupat Holim Meuhedet said if the ministry did not stop flooding its labs with tests, there would be criticism as there was in the first wave of severe problems in the laboratories, N12 reported.
“Please inform the Health Ministry’s management that the labs are in a state of crisis, and there is no way that we can maintain this number of tests – and this time it will not be because we are lacking reagents or kits, but because we just don’t have enough manpower,” the letter read.
The Knesset Coronavirus Committee will meet next week to discuss solutions for the laboratories.
However, because the number of tests being taken is much higher than it was last week – the Health Ministry reported testing 12,929 people on Wednesday – the infection rate appears to be dropping to less than 1%.
Late Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country’s schools would remain open, siding with Education Minister Yoav Gallant, whose policy has been to shut any school with infection but to keep the others operating.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein had been recommending to close middle and high schools in Jerusalem only. His professional staff is advocating to close them countrywide.
On Thursday, the Rishon Lezion Municipality decided to take matters into its own hands and rolled out a new model that will be effective on Sunday: Schools will combine frontal and distance learning, and no classroom will have more than 20 students at a time. Students will use time at school to focus on recreation, social and explorative learning.
“We see what is happening across the country, and it is important for us to maintain the health of the students on the one hand and continue the routine of life on the other,” Rishon Lezion Mayor Raz Kinstlich told N12.
The model was developed in collaboration with the Education Ministry, he said, adding that he hopes it will prove to be appropriate for parents, teachers and students.
The fight between the Teachers’ Union and the Education Ministry continued on Thursday. The ministry sent a letter to local municipalities, calling on them to take part in ensuring there is a framework for younger students during the summer break.
“This summer, there will be a breadth of programming available for children in grades one to four and preschoolers,” Gallant wrote, noting that he expects these offerings to run through sometime in August.
As of now, it appears that in-school summer programs will run from July 14 to August 8 and will include after-school programming as well.
The Secondary School Teachers’ Association and the Elementary School Teachers’ Union have not finalized an agreement to keep schools open for nine extra days until July 13.
Single yeshiva and seminary students will no longer be able to enter the country, according to a letter disseminated Wednesday by Interior Minister Arye Deri. Students who are married and learning full-time as their job can come to Israel if they received permission on or before May 21. However, no new permits will be granted, he said.
Meanwhile, the Health and Transportation ministries announced that intercity trains will begin fully operating beginning on Monday, June 8.
The trains would help relieve pressure on the bus system and allow easier movement for the public, Transportation Minister Miri Regev said in a statement.
“We will follow and make sure that the public abides by the [Health Ministry’s] rules, keeping in mind social distancing, wearing masks and preventing the entry of passengers with fevers into the station complex,” she said.
Finance Minister Amir Peretz on Thursday said his office was working on expanding measures that would enable more businesses to open while still adhering to the Health Ministry’s Purple Ribbon standard, which is up for renewal.
Among his recommendations are no longer requiring stores to record the name and registration numbers of its customers, allowing employees to eat in their office cafeteria and shifting the regulation on allowing only 50 people to operate with two meters between them to something more accessible.
“We will health and
Peretz said.
According to the latest statistics from the Israeli Employment Service, more than 110,000 people are looking for work. • maintain our livelihoods,” point man for the US-Mexico border fence, a project that Trump is eager to promote as fast as possible with the November election quickly approaching. Thus, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict isn’t seen as his top priority at the moment. Earlier this week, Kushner spoke over the phone with Prime Minister Netanyahu, a first sign in the past few weeks that he has been giving the subject some attention.
Publicly, Kushner has remained silent in recent weeks on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, without making any public comments on his opinion regarding the July 1 date. Recent media reports from Israel’s Channel 13 indicated that Kushner “wants to downplay the enthusiasm” and to slow the process as the US is dealing with a series of significant challenges, including the economic effects of COVID19. People familiar with the peace team’s work indicated that the mapping committee has yet to finish its work and that Kushner would prefer to try and promote the plan as a whole, as a potential longterm opportunity to solve the conflict.
Avi Berkowitz is the youngest in the group. At 31, the special representative for international negotiations and Kushner loyalist is focused on promoting the plan for most of his time while Kushner is busy with his other commitments. However, after the outbreak of COVID-19, he was tasked with FEMA for a few weeks, trying to get more ventilators and personal protective equipment for the coronavirus pandemic.
Before the outbreak, Berkowitz tried to promote normalization between Israel and Arab countries. He also tried to engage with the Palestinians through different channels, in an attempt to bring them to the negotiating table.
In the past few weeks, he is running the day-to-day operation. He represents the US in the Quartet calls and holds conversations with representatives from EU and Arab countries about the plan. Balancing all these responsibilities with the domestic issues in the US is not easy, a person familiar with the peace team noted, and the group is currently taking a “day by day approach.” One indication that the process will start moving, the source indicated, is when the mapping committee finishes its work. Another event that might show the peace team is giving full attention to try and promote the plan, is when Kushner and Berkowitz visit Israel, the source estimated.
Mike Pompeo announced last November, in a historic reversal of US policy, that it does not view Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law.
“After carefully studying all sides of the legal debate, this administration agrees with [former] president Reagan,” Pompeo said, in reference to Ronald Reagan’s position that settlements were not inherently illegal. “The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.”
Last month, he voiced a similar opinion to Ambassador Friedman’s when asked by Kan Bet about the prospects of annexation. “The Israeli government will decide on the matter, on exactly when and how to do it,” he said. “I hope the Palestinians understand that peace is good for them.” Most notably, he made a rare visit to Israel last month in the middle of the pandemic. And while annexation was reportedly a part of the discussion, Pompeo, too, has a lot on his plate. After his visit, unnamed State Department officials said in a press briefing that the secretary did not fly “halfway around the world to talk about annexation,” and stressed that countering Iran and China, as well as coordinating the global fight against COVID-19, remain top priorities for Pompeo. •