The government is convening Sunday evening about a new strategy for allowing some children to return to school on Tuesday – a plan that has been met by opposition from parents, teachers and local authority leaders alike.
The plan, which was determined in a late-night meeting by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, Education Minister Yoav Gallant and Finance Minister Israel Katz, is to send preschoolers, kindergarteners, students in first through fourth grades and in 11th and 12th grades back to school in yellow and green areas.
These students would learn according to the outline that existed before the lockdown – wearing masks and in capsules for grades three and up.
However, the recommendation for orange and red areas is different. These same students would return to school, but in smaller capsules beginning even in preschools, hence requiring them to learn in-person only every-other-day. In addition, they will be asked to study in the open air, meaning outside.
“We are looking to open schools with a minimum risk of raising the rate of infection,” Edelstein said Saturday night in an interview with Channel 12.
But the Private Preschool Forum said it opposed the outline.
“We will not return the preschools to activity in an illogical and inapplicable outline like the one that was published,” the forum said in a statement. “Opening preschools with capsules of yes-a-day, no-a-day may cause educational and psychological harm.”
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Similarly, the head of local authorities, Haim Bibas, told Channel 12 Sunday night that “I do not understand the logic of this outline.” He called the government “disconnected” and for the ministers to make a decision that minimally would send students in grades 5 through 10 back to school in green areas.
Of note, the outline prepared during the late-night meeting does not include these students at all.
Moreover, currently only 8.5% of students live in green zones and only 12.1% in yellow zones, meaning that the vast majority – nearly 80% – of students will not have a full solution.”
Parents have said that they will protest the outline if it passes Sunday night through the government on Tuesday outside the Knesset.
“We are in such a situation that requires great care in opening,” said coronavirus commissioner Prof. Nachman Ash toward the start of the cabinet meeting. “I am very worried that if we act irresponsible we will bring on another wave in that we are coming out [of the lockdown] with such a high rate of infection. You know the situation is very fluid and fragile.”
On Sunday morning, after nearly 40 days, Israel began emerging from its countrywide.
The 1,000-m. restriction on traveling was abolished at 7 a.m. Nature reserves, national parks and outdoor archaeological sites opened, restaurants and stores became once again allowed to offer takeaway, one-on-one services and work-from-office for employees at companies that do not directly see the public have resumed.
Even bed and breakfasts are now allowed to welcome nuclear families.
However, as noted, Israeli children remained at home.
“We are still in the midst of a close race between our ‘come back to life’ vaccination campaign and the spread of the British mutation,” Netanyahu said at the start of the cabinet meeting.
He reminded ministers that although Israel began its exit from the closure, “this relief does not mean that the increase in morbidity is behind us. On the contrary, it is not behind us. It still exists in full force.
“We must not become complacent,” he said. “We must not act irresponsibly. Otherwise, the rate of infection will simply go up.”
But Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz expressed a more positive sentiment. He told ministers at the start of the meeting that he was “happy about the responsible opening we enabled this morning and I think we should continue to open responsibly. As such, I think we can find the common language required with an emphasis on early childhood education, one that we can move forward with to make it easier for families without taking very big risks.”
On Saturday night, the number of new daily cases dropped for the first time in weeks in any substantial way. Numbers released around 8 p.m. showed that 6,273 people were diagnosed with the virus on Friday – 7.8% of the people screened were positive. However, by Sunday evening, the numbers looked less promising. There were 2,629 people diagnosed with coronavirus on Saturday – 9.4% of those screened.
The number of serious patients remains high. There were 1,101 reported Sunday evening, including more than 333 who were intubated.
The death toll stood at 5,097.
Two mothers in their late 20s are hospitalized in critical condition at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Zichron Yaakov. They both delivered their babies via emergency C-sections this week, the hospital said. There is also a 16-year-old girl hospitalized in fair condition.
The hospital said it is seeing a clear increase in the number of young serious patients.
At the same time, the vaccination campaign is still going strong, with more than 3.4 million Israelis receiving at least one shot of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.
“Our goal is to vaccinate 95% among men and women over the age of 50,” Netanyahu said. “We want to do this in the shortest time possible, two to three weeks.”
The vaccine does seem to be working, according to slides shared on social media by Eran Segal of the Weizmann Institute of Science. He showed that there was a 50% decrease in the number of new cases over the age of 60. There was also an 18% decrease in the number of new cases under the age of 60.
However, only between 50% and 60% of educators have received their first vaccine, Head of Public Health Services Sharon Alroy-Preis said Sunday in the Knesset.
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