For both mourning and celebrations, C0vid-19 meant nothing was the same
V AS ISRAEL’S Independence Day, and the third period of Coronavirus curfew, ended on Wednesday night, the country was preparing a further easing of the pandemic shutdown and a gradual reopening of schools.
The rate of infection is going down. And on the morning of Independence Day the number of those who had recovered was, for the first time, higher than those who are known still to have it.
Independence Day in Israel is traditionally celebrated with mass street parties in the evening and then large family gatherings in parks and nature reserves for picnics and barbecues on the following day.
Just as on the first and last days of Pesach, all shops closed down on Tuesday afternoon, a few hours before Independence Day began, and reopened only on Wednesday night. Police set up roadblocks, preventing movement outside towns, ensuring that the parks and reserves and the normally packed beaches all remained empty.
National ceremonies such as the “lighting of torches” on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, the official opening of the the independence celebrations, were held without an audience and for the international bible quiz the next day, competitors from abroad had to answer the questions over video-conference, denied the traditional finalists’ prize of a trip to Israel.
On Tuesday, Memorial Day for IDF soldiers, all the military cemeteries were closed to prevent bereaved families, friends and well-wishers from gathering around the graves. That is another Israeli tradition which is so strong that some even petitioned the High Court to force the government to keep the cemeteries open. “Despite the sadness and pain that this petition aroused in us,” ruled the court. “We see no alternative but to turn it down.”
Throughout Independence Day, the Israeli Air Force’s aerobatic team flew across the country, performing over hospitals.
This was instead of the much larger IAF flypast which usually takes place but which was cancelled this year to prevent spectators gathering to watch on the beaches of Tel Aviv.
But the shutdown measures which have been in effect now in Israel for seven weeks seem to be working. Since the beginning of the week, the daily rate of new Coronavirus cases detected has dropped under the 200-mark. With 212 deaths from Covid-19, there now remain 120 serious cases in hospitals, of which ninety are on ventilators.
Some of the emergency coronavirus wards have been dismantled. According to Health Ministry figures, 7,929 Israelis have fully recovered from the virus while there remain 7,641 known cases.
Officials are wary of saying so out in the open, but there is a feeling that Israel may have turned the corner in its handling of the pandemic.
Last Sunday was the first step out of the shutdown as businesses were allowed to have up to 30 percent of their personnel on site, and hardware shops reopened.
Next Sunday there is expected to be a further easing of restrictions for businesses and shops and perhaps the first return to school for children under the age of ten, who will be taught in groups of less than fifteen, enabling the teachers and children to observe physical-distancing in the classroom.
The Education Ministry’s plan has yet to be authorised by cabinet and could run in to objections from the health experts and the teachers’ union who have yet to agree to a plan which would see them working over part of the summer holiday to make up for the past seven weeks in which the schools have been closed.
Another question-mark looming over the education system is that of the ultra-Orthodox yeshivas.
The rabbis and their political representatives have been pressing the government to allow the yeshivas to reopen but since most of them are also boarding-schools, they will need special procedures to prevent them becoming new hubs of infection.
Independence Day is celebrated with street parties’
Education Ministry’s plan has yet to be authorised’