Return of corona regulations unmasks mixed feelings
As Israel’s COVID-19 infection levels rose above 100 cases per day again last week, on Friday, the Health Ministry reinstated the wearing of protective masks indoors, although some Jerusalem residents were not happy about this and expressed doubt that it was even necessary.
On a commuter bus or on Jerusalem’s light rail network, it was evident that not everyone was heeding the re-introduced rules and plenty weren’t wearing a mask, while some that were, did not position them properly over their nose and mouth.
Some people who favor of the restrictions, said they trust the Health Ministry’s judgment. It said that it won’t impose additional restrictions besides the masks and instead, will work to enforce existing quarantine mandates. The origin of most of the new infections were found to have been spread by people who did not self-isolate after returning from abroad.
But some people said it was absolutely necessary to follow the rules.
“If [the government] is strict with [its] mask mandate and washing hands, there will be less transmission,” said Yaakov, a resident of Jerusalem, said.
According to the rules that went into effect on Friday at noon, mask wearing is only required in closed spaces. Former health minister Yuli Edelstein abolished the need to wear masks indoors on June 15 and it was a brief respite lasting only 10 days. He lifted the outdoor mask requirement on April 18.
There are, nevertheless, seven exemptions to wearing a mask indoors including being alone, under the age of seven or is engaged in physical exercise. Being fully vaccinated is not one of the exceptions, as it is currently in the United States.
Some people questioned said they had faith in the vaccine that has been shown to curb the spread of the virus and reduce the severity of the illness caused by coronavirus and it also works to mitigate the newest scourge, the Delta variant, as confirmed by the Health Ministry recently.
“I have faith in the vaccine, but people need to be careful,” said
Pam, a Jerusalem resident who moved to Israel in October.
She said she hoped that the restrictions would help speed up a return to normal living. Despite the rise in cases, people are back on the streets and businesses are slowly recovering after over a year of lockdowns.
In Tel Aviv, the Pride Parade took place as planned on Friday.
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz gave the event his blessing beforehand but told people to be safe. Over 100,000 attended the huge celebration, which was one of many events canceled last year because of the virus.
“It’s nice to see people doing things again,” Pam said.
Although the lockdowns and other restrictions severely hurt businesses over the past year, an employee at Beer Bazaar, a bar at Jerusalem’s Mahaneh Yehudah Market, felt that the new mask-wearing rules won’t harm business this time around.
“We got through corona,” she said. “We won’t go back to [what we went through].”
The bar is technically outdoors but Mahaneh Yehudah can get crowded at night and people need to remove their masks to eat and drink so there is an increased risk of infection.
Eshed, another Jerusalem resident, said he would wear his mask outdoors, even if it was not a requirement, although the Health Ministry has recommended that people do wear masks outdoors in crowded areas.
But not everyone was happy about the rules and Jerusalem resident Yosef Doneb said the need to wear masks again was “excessive.”
“Many people have already been vaccinated and there aren’t many who are seriously ill,” he said.
Israel reported 113 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, and 0.4% of tests returned a positive result. Twenty-six people were in serious condition and 17 were on ventilators. It is unknown whether any of them had received the vaccine or previously had the virus.
According to Our World in Data, 57% of Israelis are fully vaccinated and the daily vaccination rate stood at 0.09 doses per 100 people on Saturday, a slight increase after hovering around 0.04 doses per 100 people the week before.
Israel also recently recommended that all children aged 12-15 receive the vaccine, which is probably one of the causes for the rise in the vaccination rate but many of the new cases have been in children and teenagers of school age who haven’t yet been vaccinated.
This last indicator was one of the reasons why Doneb wasn’t overly concerned with the new outbreak and because relatively few people are in serious condition.
Eshed, Pam and Yaakov also agreed that the new outbreak wasn’t as concerning as in the past. They felt that the new instruction to wear a mask gave them and everybody added protection to navigate through the latest chapter of the pandemic.