Heed authorities

As part of Israel’s efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus throughout the country, the Health Ministry last week added France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria to the list of countries which if visited, people need to enter self quarantine for 14 days.

The list, which also includes Italy, South Korea, China, Singapore and more, not only saw close to 100,000 Israelis enter quarantine, but also made Israel the most stringent of countries across the globe in the way it is trying to stop the spread of the deadly virus within its borders.

But even with these efforts, the virus is spreading. On Thursday, the public learned about a group of Greek Christian pilgrims who had been here a week earlier, had contracted the virus and had infected their bus driver from east Jerusalem. In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority announced that it had discovered seven cases of people sick with coronavirus.

Many Israelis have taken to social media to protest what seem to some to be draconian measures since they have not been implemented by other countries. We urge the public to heed the instructions and guidelines as stipulated by the Health Ministry. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis last week, while it is not openly spoken of as such, coronavirus is a global-scale outbreak and could “possibly be among the worst diseases in the last century.”

For this to work though, Israelis need to come together and act responsibly. When ordered into self-quarantine, Israelis need to comply. They do not need to do anything not asked of them – cases of un-mandated quarantine might be exaggerated – but at the very least people should heed what authorities order.

Last Thursday, for example, the Health Ministry filed a police complaint against one man who had contracted the virus and had misinformed the Health Ministry about his whereabouts in the days leading up to his diagnosis. While charging a sick man might sound harsh, tough times call for tough measures and these steps and others are needed to keep the situation under control for as long as possible and as much as possible.

You don’t have to look much farther than what is happening in Iran and Italy. In Iran, authorities tried to hide the news of the outbreak only to see the numbers of sick and dead skyrocket. In Italy, a Western European country with advanced healthcare, more than 3,000 people are sick and over 100 have died as well. The situation is clearly out of control.

In Israel, the new restrictions include banning foreigners from entering the country from the listed countries unless they can prove that they have a place in which they can be quarantined for the requisite time period. Any foreign traveler who has been in Iran, Iraq, Syria or Lebanon for the 14 days prior to arrival in Israel will not be allowed to enter.

Healthcare workers are forbidden from international travel, and it is recommended that civil workers refrain from travel, too.

On Thursday, Netanyahu said that the government would establish an emergency fund to support businesses deemed critical for the Israeli economy.

“The bad news is that nobody knows how this epidemic will spread, where it will reach and how much it will cost in terms of the economy. Therefore, we have been prepared for what has already happened, and for what may happen,” he said.

Nevertheless, not everything can be anticipated. El Al, for example, is facing significant financial losses over the coming year and has already announced plans to lay off 1,000 workers and slash senior staff salaries by 20 percent. This is just the beginning and the impact of this economic slowdown will continue to spread across businesses and industries in Israel.

This is all the more a reason why a full-time government is needed in Jerusalem. The health risks, the economic fallout and the potential impact on Israel’s national security require the politicians who recently finished their third election in 12 months to get their act together and begin to put the people before themselves.

Viruses like corona don’t care about politics. They spread with or without.