Israeli hospitals struggle tocopewithCovidchaos ThehorrorofHalle,oneyearon
V AS NIGHT fell on Monday and the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar came to an end, chaos broke out. The leaders of the Israeli government’s coronavirus task force had met the previous day, just a few hours before Yom Kippur, with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to enforce “guidelines” on how tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students would disperse to their homes at the end of the 40-day Elul term.
They had agreed with the deans of theyeshivasthatstudentswouldundergo Covid-19 testing before leaving for home and those found positive would remain in isolation in a number of yeshivas which had been designated as “corona hotels”. But as the day of fasting ended, many, if not most, of the yeshivas quickly emptied as the students boarded buses home.
“The guidelines worked very well,” said an exasperated IDF officer who had been seconded to work with the Charedi community. “But only with the yeshivas who abided by them. I can’t take responsibility for those who won’t work with us.”
The commitment had been been that the students would not leave for the entire term, self-isolating for forty days while they studied Talmud. But data compiled by Weizmann Institute Professor Eran Segal show gradually rising levels of infections among the ultra-Orthodox over the past month, and in older age-groups as well. Some of the students had obviously been going home during term.
Public health experts expect to see yet another spike in infections within the ultra-Orthodox community next week as a result of the students’ return. As it is, the latest figures show that a third of all Covid-19 cases come from the community, which is just 12 percent of Israel’s population.
Meanwhile Dr Hezi Levi, director-general of the health ministry, admitted wearily at a public meeting on Wednesday that “we will probably keep the guidelines for the next yeshiva term, even though they didn’t work so well.”
He may be in charge of the health system in Israel but he is a civil servant and he knew that there was absolutely
Experts expect to see yet another spike in infections’