Discussions continued on Monday concerning how to reopen schools and businesses in the next stage of the exit from the coronavirus lockdown, with many officials and organizations expressing outrage at the lack of clarity and variety of demands made within the government.
After a long day of stormy debates on Sunday, the coronavirus cabinet decided that first-fourth grades will go back to school on November 1.
First and second graders will study three days a week in capsules and third and fourth graders will study a full week in capsules.
Businesses will also open on November 1, according to an agreement between the Health Ministry and the Finance Ministry. The issues of afternoon programs and transportation will be decided Monday between the two ministries, mediated by the National Security Council.The Health and Finance Ministries had failed to reach agreements concerning how to open schools and businesses as of Monday afternoon.Mayors of cities around Israel expressed outrage that the cabinet had seemingly ignored a reopening plan presented by local authorities which would allow schools to operate for five full days a week for all grades, saying that with the decisions by the cabinet there is “no reason to open the education system on November 1.
Mayor of Modi’in-Maccabim-Reut, and chairman of the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel, Haim Bibas, called the plan presented by the government for the reopening schools “delusional and detached.”
“The actual meaning is not to bring back the first and second grades and the parents will not be able to leave the house,” said Bibas. “It is unclear how the coronavirus cabinet and the prime minister, who knew the authorities could run it better in capsules and 5 days a week, opted for a ‘solution’ that is not a solution. [They are] again sacrificing children and their parents for unprofessional reasons.”
“Without operating shuttles and after-school programs, and without giving powers to local authorities and principals, the return of first- and second-graders will remain an unfortunate decision that does not change anything,” stressed Bibas. “When the detachment from the reality in the field surpasses all imagination, we make inapplicable decisions that harm the public. We lose an entire generation.”
Finance Minister Israel Katz attacked the Health Ministry for demanding changes and an increased budget for the reopening of first and second grade, saying that the demands went against earlier agreements made at the start of the school year.
Katz warned that implementing the Health Ministry’s demands would require five weeks and would postpone reopening schools for another two months.
“The decision of the coronavirus cabinet is no less than a spit in the face of the youth!” said Israel’s National Student and Youth Council in response to the cabinet’s decisions, which did not address high school and middle school students.
Some 559 new cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in Israel on Sunday, with 2.8% of tests returning positive, according to a Monday morning update by the Health Ministry.
Of those infected, 506 are in serious condition and 206 are on ventilators. Since Saturday, 31 patients have died due to the virus. Due to technical issues, Health Ministry statistics were not updated on Sunday. The Health Ministry update on Monday included the data for Saturday, with 239 new cases and 3.9% of tests returning positive on Saturday.
The Ministerial Legislative Committee approved a plan to allow Eilat and the Dead Sea to become “green tourism islands” which will allow tourists to enter the two areas as long as they have been tested negative for the novel coronavirus.
The outline will allow the opening of hotels there while adhering to Health Ministry distancing guidelines. At a later stage, more gradually, the law that will be enacted will allow the opening of more businesses in the areas, which will serve the hotel guests.Hannah Brown contributed to this report.
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