The Knesset coronavirus committee is expected to vote on changes to the government directives to fight the spread of the novel virus on Monday.Among the changes likely to be demanded by the coronavirus committee:> Allow beaches to stay open over the weekend but with limits on gathering> Allow pools to stay open> Restaurants should move to “purple ribbon” status and be allowed to open at 35% occupancy, like hotel dining rooms> Gyms should open but require that occupancy be limited to one person per 10 meters> Zoos, safaris and other open space trails should continue to operate> Tourist attractions in Eilat According to the Lev Drucker, deputy to the chief economist of the Finance Ministry, the government’s current restrictions that require certain weekend closures are set to cost the country NIS 850 million (NIS 300 million for Saturday and NIS 500 million for Friday). The recommendations were decided upon after a heated debate in the committee, during which the Health Ministry presented new data in infections.Israel is among the countries with the highest number of sick patients out of those tested, deputy director-general of the Health Ministry Itamar Grotto said. “I am worried about the situation,” he said, “The hospitals are currently packed with patients and are teetering on the edge of being able to sustain the load. We see at the moment that the time between when a person enters the hospital until he deteriorates is around two weeks. “Today, we see in the hospitals the morbidity of two weeks ago,” he continued. “Looking ahead, the situation will go up and up. Even if today, the whole country is locked down and no one leaves their homes, we will see a continuation of the infection.”He said that one person can “create a huge chain of infection,” citing one graduation party in Ra’anana and a wedding in Dimona in which double digits of people caught corona. Grotto’s comments came on the backdrop of new data released by the Health Ministry on Sunday, which showed that there were 1,414 people diagnosed with the novel coronavirus on Saturday. Of the people infected, there are currently 238 in serious condition, including 62 who are intubated.Six more people died overnight, bringing the total to 406.“We are fighting a plague and we must all fight together,” said committee chairwoman Yifat Sasha-Biton. “Everyone has the good intentions of fighting the virus and we are all on the same side. But we are allowed to argue about the ways to fight. The pandemic has many consequences – health, social and economic – and it is necessary to bring the delicate balance between them.”At the meeting, Prof. Hagai Levine, chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians, stressed that some of the government’s decisions did not seem rooted in epidemiological logic, especially the decision to close down beaches. He said it lacked basis, as the risk of catching coronavirus in open spaces is much lower than in closed spaces.However, deputy health minister Yoav Kisch noted that the problem at the beaches and pools is not the open area but the crowds – and the same thing in restaurants. He promised to look for an outline that would allow the opening of the beaches.He also stressed that most patients do not know where they were infected, and the data are marginal but need to look at the trend. And the trend is an increase in morbidity. “We are in the midst of a mega-event,” he said. Source
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