Corona Projector, Prof. Nachman Ash, Estimated this morning (Sunday) in an interview on 103FM that the closure on Israel that will take effect today at 17:00 will last between three and four weeks. “I guess two weeks is too short a time to see this effect,” Ash explained.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health announced this morning that in the last day 2,630 new corona patients were diagnosed, and 64,662 tests were performed to detect the virus. The number of critically ill patients now stands at 584, including 133 respirators. The number of victims of the virus stands at 3,210 people.
It was further reported that the number of verified cases from the outbreak of the plague stands at 399,652 and that the number of active patients stands at 35,525. About 1,054 patients are hospitalized, about 33,736 are at home or in the community and 735 are in hotel.
Prof. Nachman Ash in Baqa al-Gharbiya. Photo: Arab Information Headquarters – Ministry of Health
Fire: “Two weeks is too short”
Projector Ash referred, as mentioned, to entering the third closure since the outbreak of the plague in Israel, and said on 103FM: “We estimate that it will last between three and four weeks. We want to drop from the number of verified daily, and we estimate that it will take time.”
I mean, certainly not two weeks?
“There is certainly nothing certain about the plague. We have learned that many things can happen, but I estimate that two weeks is a short time to see this effect.”
On what basis is Prof. Ash?
“We have forecasts and we can predict according to the coefficient of infection how many patients there will be over time. We make this forecast about the condition of the coefficient of infection now and the situation that will be with the onset of the closure. I mean, the closure lowers the coefficient of infection. “.
I mean, before it goes down it first goes up?
“Right. Exactly.”
We keep going up. We end the first week of vaccinations with an incredible number of 280,000 vaccinated, 71,000 of them last weekend. Continue to vaccinate for you, continue to protect Israel. pic.twitter.com/afEX30DNGa
– Yuli Edelstein Yuli Edelstein December 27, 2020
But this is the first time we also have a vaccine. It does not change the calculation?
“Of course it does matter, and we took the vaccine into account. I mention again that the vaccine only works after the second dose, but partially already from the first dose, and we also took that into account. By the way, thanks to that we really hope it will be the last quarantine, and when we go out From him, the data may increase a bit, but not really like now. “
When someone is vaccinated today then tomorrow can he already behave differently?
No. He has to take care of everything. After all, the vaccine only starts to have a partial effect after a week or two. Therefore, when someone is vaccinated he must continue to follow the instructions until a week after the second dose. This is one of our concerns – that people will get the first vaccine they will think everything is fine, and will not follow the guidelines. We need to continue to maintain procedures such as a mask, distance, and the like. “
Beyond the vaccine, the other difference is that you decided to open part of the education system – why not the whole thing? Why did you decide to leave the fifth- to tenth-grade students at home?
“The dilemma here is that the more you open the quarantine the less effective it becomes. We decided that early childhood education until fourth grade, and the studies of 11th and 12th grade students before matriculation are places and areas that are important to us to continue despite the closure quality impairment. “We did not open the education system because we wanted a short closure, and that we could return to a reasonable life as soon as possible and open the economy back.”
That is, opening the education system prolongs the closure?
“Certainly. Any opening would have extended the closure, even if we had said to open the malls. It is true that the education system is not the source of the disease, and there are no infections that endanger us all, but there are certainly infections and we deal with it every day. We would not close classrooms, schools and kindergartens. “
Shasha Bitton said it was a political closure.
“Absolutely not. Our recommendation is a pure professional recommendation, and it is not tainted by anything political. We see the morbidity data, and the infection rate which is high, and present the data in the clearest way possible. For us, as professionals, no one likes quarantine. “It is a difficult tool, but there is no choice. If we want to go through this period until the vaccines arrive, that is what needs to be done. Closure is another tool that is in our arsenal, and we need to know how to activate it.”
Is it true that Israel paid $ 30 for a vaccine?
“I did not purchase the vaccines, but I was willing to pay any price.”
Also double the price from the EU?
“Yes. It’s worth it both financially and health-wise.”
Director General of the Ministry of Health: “This is the place to stop”
The director general of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Hezi Levy, also referred to the increase in morbidity in IDF waves, and said that he believes that we left the previous closure too quickly. “The reality has been turned upside down. The morbidity, the coefficient of infection and the number of serious patients have risen. This has led to a nightmare and closure that no one wanted and perhaps could have been prevented. We know the ritual that we try to prevent closure with all our might “This is the place to stop right now and try to close.”
The closure is set for two weeks. You said and the executives also said it would last longer.
“A closure is meant to reduce morbidity, to the dimensions we want to reach. It’s about a thousand a day. You can not say it will happen in two weeks. Hope so. We do not sandal anyone and tell the truth. If a closure is done it will be effective. “.
The question of enforcement – you said in the office that enforcement was not enough.
“The police are doing a hard job. They can not be everywhere. We saw on Friday the outrageous behavior of people trying to demonstrate distrust, and ‘the disease will not touch us’ and they are gathering and doing parties. The government will enforce. The police are doing everything they can. I wonder how People act like there is no tomorrow and no illness and no recovery difficulties. This enforcement should start with all of us because we are tired. We are tired of this epidemic, of lack of social and cultural life. So what? The way to deal is a party without masks? And we will see the results later. It starts with all of us. “
The transition from fifth to tenth grades is committed to reality?
“We know that all over the world there is an increase in morbidity. Students who stay together for several hours. We do not know. Some say that children are not contagious. It may be true. They bring diseases from where they are and there are also teachers concerned so studies with all difficulty showed an increase in morbidity. “Therefore, we started in early childhood, where the infection is less than in older age. Regarding grades 11-12 – we did not want to harm matriculation. As for everything else, it is better to wait.”
The prime minister has set up vaccinations. It is possible?
“The quantity is coming and an air train will arrive this week as well. We are mobilizing everything possible among the health funds.”
Is it possible to reach 150,000 a day?
“It’s not easy. We talk every day. Hopefully we reach our destination and we have to meet it. We do everything we can. It is important that the public arrives. We store according to priorities. We have not yet started vaccinating young people.”