COVID: Jabbed people asked to isolate after contact with patient in event

The Health Ministry has asked vaccinated and recovered people who attended a performance in Beit She’an to enter quarantine after discovering that a woman in the audience was positive for the coronavirus. The Sunday announcement also came against the backdrop of a number of outbreaks in Israeli schools, with new daily cases at the highest in over a month.

The ministry’s appeal marks an unprecedented development: The current policy in Israel allows those who are fully inoculated or recovered to skip isolation if they are exposed to a verified patient – the one exception being people who returned from countries under travel ban in light of their high morbidity.

The performance occurred on Thursday night at the Qimron Hall in the northern Israeli city.

In the past few days, at least three outbreaks have occurred in schools all over the country.

At least a dozen teachers at a special needs school in the Sharon region tested positive for coronavirus, including 10 who were vaccinated, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

According to a teacher at the school and a series of WhatsApps between the teacher and other educational professionals that the Post reviewed, the outbreak began with one teacher on Wednesday; a handful more were diagnosed on Thursday and several more over the weekend.

“Almost everyone went to get checked, even if they were feeling OK,” the teacher, who asked to be known only as Eran, told the Post.

It is still unclear how many students are infected, though he said that some are definitely youth.

The school has fewer than 200 students coming from all over Israel, as well as staff from around the country.

Eran said that none of the staff had been abroad, but he was unaware if any of their family members, friends or inner circle had traveled.

Eran sent a message to the school in Petah Tikvah where his children learn to inform them of the situation. The principal has decided to require all students to wear masks for the time being, including in open spaces, according to a WhatsApp communication seen by the Post.

The Post has reached out to the Health Ministry for additional details.

ON SATURDAY, the ministry announced that several coronavirus cases had been discovered in a school in Binyamina. After some 45 students tested positive, on Sunday the ministry ordered that masks must be worn in schools in Binyamina, Modi’in and Maccabim-Re’ut.

The fresh mandate instructs that students must wear masks on all school property, including in open areas.

Only nine of the students who tested positive were reported to have been experiencing mild coronavirus symptoms.  

According to initial ministry findings, the source of the outbreak is still under investigation, but there is a connection with a family who recently returned to Israel from abroad.

The preliminary results of the genetic sequencing suggest that the children are infected with the Delta variant (commonly known as the Indian variant), which experts believe is significantly more contagious than the British strain that is currently the dominant one in the country.

Earlier last week, another outbreak was reported in a school in Modi’in, with some 15 students getting infected.

Another two students tested positive for the virus in Kibbutz Ashdot Ya’akov Ihud in the Jordan Valley, after their father returned from Dubai, according to N12. As a result, classes were canceled.

Several hundred students have been sent to home isolation as a result of the outbreaks.

Some 46 people were identified as coronavirus carriers on Saturday, with 0.3% of the tests performed returning a positive result. Both figures represent the highest in a month – even though the numbers remain extremely minimal compared to the worst periods of the pandemic when thousands of new patients were identified every day and over 10% of the tests returned positive.