Israelis hoping to get treated in the country’s hospital should be concerned if the National Association of Nurses strikes on Monday, as it says it plans to do.”The Association of Nurses hereby announces that as of July 20, 2020 it will launch an emergency strike,” chairwoman Ilana Cohen wrote in a letter to the directors of the health funds and the Health Ministry. They said the strike is “out of national responsibility and in order to stop the collapse of the nursing system and save lives.”She said that, “the Finance Ministry is not doing enough to put human life and public health at the top if its priorities, and therefore unfortunately we have no choice but to take organizational measures before having to deal with immoral and inhumane decisions.”We nurses have decided to take action and take all legal measures at our disposal to prevent injury and loss of the life, to stop the deterioration [of the health system] at the hands of coronavirus and to prevent the expected ‘Yom Kippur’ of the public health system.”The letter came on a day that the number of new coronavirus cases in Israel continues to soar. Some 1,573 people were diagnosed with the virus on Tuesday, the Health Ministry said Wednesday. Some 30,297 people were tested, making the infection rate 5.2%.
Furthermore, the number of serious patients reached 195 at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. There are now 22,704 active patients; some 375 people have died.
The news of the spike in patients comes on the backdrop of a revelation Wednesday that a confirmed coronavirus patient was at the protest against the economic crisis at Rabin Square on Saturday night, the Health Ministry reported.
The patient was at the square from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thousands of protesters attended the event.Now, another protest planned for this coming Saturday night is in jeopardy due to a conflict between the organizers and police.
Police said that the protest cannot be held at Rabin Square since social distancing measures could not be maintained in the space if the expected number of participants attend.The police suggested an alternate location – Ganei Yehoshua at Park Hayarkon, but according to KAN news, the organizers have rejected the offer, with one telling KAN that the police can’t tell citizens where they can protest.
At the same time, the Defense Ministry said that the number of coronavirus hotels has increased to 20 to help accommodate the growing number of patients – 15 for people recovering from coronavirus and another five for those who need to isolate.
In total, the hotels contain 4,301 rooms.
Eleven of the hotels are located in Jerusalem, the Health Ministry said. Six are in the North and three in the South. Among the 20, eleven are targeted toward the ultra-Orthodox community.
Furthermore, the ministry has hired 170 buses to transport the sick and isolated.
Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz on Wednesday spoke with directors of nursing homes in Israel, and thanked them for their work during “difficult times.”
Speaking on a zoom call along with Minister of social equality Meirav Cohen, Gantz listened to the difficulties such as lack of budgeting and various financial struggles the directors were facing.
“We are in difficult times so it does not matter to me if the geriatric institutions that care for the elderly are private or public, the responsibility is the state’s and it should be reflected in the supervision, regulation, and budgeting or payment of grants to those who do the important work,” he said. “The elderly are our most sensitive population and we must do everything to ensure that their old age is dignified and humane.”
Cohen said that the government has allowed some 2,500 foreign workers to enter the country in order to work at such institutions and that they should now be able to ensure that they receive the necessary budget which would ensure their financial stability.
“It should be understood that the Corona crisis has placed enormous costs on the directors of these institutions and if they collapse financially the first to be harmed are the same older tenants who live there,” she said. Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
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