Time to pray
… as virus second wave hits Israel and blame game begins
“THE ENTIRE country is burning,” wrote Professor Sigal Sadetzky — until this week, the head of public health services in Israel’s Health Ministry — in her resignation letter on Tuesday.
On that day, 1,437 new cases of coronavirus infection were confirmed, the highest daily rate yet. The number of serious cases remained still low, at 86, with 34 on ventilators.
Prof Sadetzky, an anonymous civil servant until a few months ago, has been one of the most controversial figures in the country’s struggle against the pandemic. And as a new health minister took the reins last month — and, last week, a new director-general — she finally had to come to terms with the fact that she no longer had her bosses’ confidence.
Back in April, her calls to impose lockdown were heeded. Not so her warnings against easing the restrictions too quickly. In the long, passionate letter, Prof Sadetzky decried the fact that Israel was woefully prepared for the second wave of infections, because “too much times is invested in debates, discussions, consultations and forums”.
Colleagues in the medical profession who have for months now been critical of her opposition to carrying out what she called “inefficient” largescale covid-19 testing, where not sad to see her go. “She should be blaming herself,” said one hospital director.
But at the same time, there was also sympathy for Prof Sadetzky over the way she is now being portrayed — as the main culprit, and via anonymous leaks to the press.
“She has her share of the blame, but it’s obvious that the politicians are now using her as a
scapegoat,” said one colleague.
Prof Sadetzky’s departure was by no means an end to the chaos that is still characterising much of the government’s handling of the crisis. On Wednesday morning, the deputy health minister Yoav Kish said in an interview that the ministry had tried to hire 350 currently furloughed security guards from Ben Gurion Airport to work in the new contact-tracing system, but that the Treasury Ministry had refused to release the necessary NIS 17 million (£3.5 million).
Elsewhere, the government originally ruled that due to the fear of infection, buses would not be allowed to use their air-conditioning in the heat but would instead operate with open windows. It then transpired that nearly all the buses in Israel do not have windows that open. Instead, transport minister Miri Regev ruled that they would operate at 50 per cent capacity, with air-conditioning.
The new Israeli government was set up as a “emergency national-unity government” but, so far, it is showing mainly disunity. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused the entreaties of his defence minister and alternate prime minister Benny Gantz to give the military more powers to fight the pandemic.
As synagogues start to re-open, there is no clearer warning of the importance of remaining alert and cautious than the Israeli experience of dealing with Covid-19. When coronavirus hit Israel, the country adopted some of the toughest lockdown rules anywhere. And they worked. Other countries looked enviously at Israel’s success in containing the virus. But having done the initial hard work, it is now clear that the Israelis eased restrictions too much, too soon. The second wave that has hit is far worse than the first, with record numbers of infections now being recorded. Israel offers a lesson that the virus does not disappear simply because we are fed up of the restrictions imposed to restrict its spread. The scientific advice is clear: we can safely start to ease restrictions only if we remain alert, practise social distancing and use common sense. Throughout the outbreak there have been examples of some in our community doing none of those. They should look at Israel and realise why it is now more important than ever that they start to act sensibly.