Mixed feelings as malls poised to reopen
Several weeks after they were shut down by the authorities in an effort to contain the coronavirus outbreak, malls could be soon allowed to reopen. Stores not in malls received the green light last Friday.
An app to track customers in malls was in the process of being developed, Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman Tov said Monday in a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and representatives of the National Security Council and market vendors associations, Haaretz reported.
People entering the premises would be compelled to download it, receive a QR code (a two-dimensional barcode) and then scan it in the different stores they visit. Their itinerary would be registered, so that if they were exposed to someone who tested positive for the coronavirus, they could be ordered
Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital has shuttered its coronavirus unit for the time being as the hospital has no more active patients, Dr. Tal Brosh, head of the hospital’s infectious disease unit told The Jerusalem Post.
“The unit still exists, but it is empty,” he said, noting that they are leaving the facility intact in case of a new influx of infected patients. “It is still very dynamic and I predict we are going to have more patients in the near future. The party is not over.”
Assuta Ashdod is the first hospital to make such an announcement. On Thursday, it hung a sign on the unit’s door that read, “Coronavirus Unit: Closed with 0 patients.”
Over the last eight weeks, the hospital treated 73 coronavirus patients, including some of the country’s youngest.
Brosh said that the unit’s staff had been recruited from throughout the hospital and they were now assigned back to their original departments, though they would remain on call.
Ashdod has had 281 coronavirus patients out of its population of 225,073, according to the Health Ministry. So far, 154 people have recovered.
There are six other Israeli hospitals that don’t have any coronavirus patients.
On Thursday, Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya closed down “Ward A” of its coronavirus unit and relocated any active patients to “Ward B,” according to a statement by the hospital. Currently, it reported, there are only six patients being treated for corona, among them four from the Arab town of Deir al-Asad, which recently saw a spike in cases.
In general, the number of active patients continues to decrease country wide. Thursday morning numbers reflected 7,239 actives cases, a decrease of 402 from the day before.
Dr. Sabrina Grodzinski, an emergency medical physician who served in Assuta’s coronavirus unit, said that its closing “gives you this false sense of security that everything is fine. If we don’t have a coronavirus department then everything must be fine, but we all know that is not the reality.”
She said it is disconcerting for everything to be so unknown.
Brosh agreed. He said that he expects that with the majority of restrictions lifted, people going back to work and children back to school, “we will see a rise in the number of patients. I just hope that it will be a steady rise and something that will be maintainable – and will not require us to go back to strict isolation and curfews.” to self-isolate quickly. Customers would also need to wear protective masks at all times, and their body temperature would be measured.
According to the report, mall directors were informed of the requirements last week. They will not be allowed to open until all the measures are in place.
Several representatives of malls and store brands declined to comment about their possible reopening. Whether Israelis are going to feel safe about shopping there once it happens remains to be seen.
“I consider malls a symbol of the ability to gather together in large crowds and therefore a sign of hope,” Jerusalem-resident Miriam, 28, told The Jerusalem Post.
While she misses going out for dinner at restaurants, she does not feel such a need for going to malls.
“I have been doing some shopping I needed online,” Miriam said, mentioning food and skin-care products and makeup among the items she has purchased in recent weeks.
“Shopping online presents some advantages,” she said. “For example, I often feel that when I go to buy makeup at stores, the shop assistants are too aggressive. On the other hand, I like being able to try the product on before I buy it, which is not possible online. However, the last time I was at a Super-Pharm, I noticed that they had removed all the testers because of the fear of infection.”
Miriam said when malls reopen, she intends to wait a little before visiting them if she can.
“I think it is important to see how things develop,” she said. “I would not want to be the first person to try whether it’s safe to go.”
Micol Picciotto Marascalchi, 38, a mother of four from Netanya, said reopening the malls would be a mistake.
“I think the authorities are rushing into told the Post.
Picciotto Marascalchi ran activities for infants and children in a mall in Netanya for more than two years. decisions,” she
“Having worked there, I know how things are,” she said. “I do not think there is so much space for people to respect social distancing, and I’m not even sure it is so convenient for stores if the number of customers they have is limited.”
“I don’t think there is such a need for the malls to open now,” she added. “Street-front stores have just reopened, which I understand better, and even during the lockdown when I needed something, I was able to find everything online, including clothes for my fiveyear-old. I bought them from a local store whose owner showed me the items in a video-call and then delivered them.”
Picciotto Marascalchi said since the lockdown began, she left the house for a short walk just once, and if the schools indeed reopen next week, she is not going to send her children back yet because she does not think it is safe.
“They have just eased up other restrictions,” she said. “I think before opening more, the government should wait and see how the numbers of the disease progress.”
“More than going to the mall or to any other place, I miss hanging out with my family and friends,” David Gedallovich, 28, of Jerusalem told the Post. “However, I think that it is a good thing to reopen them.”
He said he trusts the government’s decisions.
“I believe it is important to try new things, considering that there are important issues to be considered, such as the state of the economy and the fact that people need jobs,” Gedallovich said. “If it doesn’t work, we will go back to more restrictive measures.”