Significant rise in IDF troops diagnosed with coronavirus

Gantz: Virus with us for next year... perhaps longer

With the number of coronavirus patients in the IDF increasing significantly over the last week, the IDF is preparing for an even greater outbreak among troops.

On Sunday, Deputy Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Eyal Zamir informed troops and commanders that due to “significant increase in the number of individuals diagnosed with the coronavirus,” service members must adhere to a combination of social distancing, personal hygiene and the wearing of masks to prevent the disease from spreading in military units.

“Corona is not behind us! ‘Life in the presence of the disease’ means there will be more deadly waves [of the virus] and it is in our hands to reduce [the number of sick] and maintain the IDF’s operational competence and the health of our troops,” Zamir wrote.

The number of soldiers diagnosed with COVID-19 has risen to 93, after 27 troops from Bahad 11 training base tested positive for the virus. All are in light condition.

Another 2,700 troops are in quarantine, 200 of them from Bahad 11, compared to 350 at the beginning of June.

Several officers on the General Staff have also entered quarantine, including the head of the IDF’s C4I & Cyber Defense Directorate Maj.-Gen. Lior Carmeli, Incoming Central Command head Maj-Gen. Tamir Yadai, Southern Command head MajGen.Hertzi Halevi, Gaza Division Commander Brig.-Gen. Eliezer Toledano and 80th Division Commander Brig.-Gen. Gur Schriebmann.

Zamir has been coordinating the military’s response to the virus since the initial outbreak along with the Operations Directorate led by Maj.-Gen.

Aaron Haliva, the Medical Corps and the Home Front Command, which works closely with civilian emergency response services.

The IDF is reportedly contemplating the decision to have troops return to capsule systems, though soldiers are expected to be allowed to enter and leave their bases freely.

The Operations Division has prepared a plan for significant outbreaks in cities across the country as well as in Bedouin villages and towns, which have seen a spike in cases. On Thursday, a partial lockdown was placed on neighborhoods in the Bedouin towns of Rahat and Arara in the Negev as well as on Jaffa’s Ajami neighborhood.

During the cabinet meeting on Sunday, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the biggest challenge is to learn how to manage daily lives under the constant threat of contracting the virus.

Gantz warned that it is an issue “that will accompany us for the next year and a half, and may even longer” and that there must be “precise guidelines, proper preparations at the governmental level, the coronavirus cabinet, the relevant health minister downward and personal responsibility from the public upward.”

Addressing ministers, Gantz said the government must not create public hysteria but must be “responsible in continuing to advance our guidelines and balanced vision” as to how the economy and society can continue to function.

“It’s a complex formula on which we depend in order to maintain a safe routine,” Gantz said. “It is impossible for it to work only in one direction. It is very important for the public to cooperate with the decisions that are made so that we can truly come up with a balanced, stable and safe plan of action.”