“A miracle that the death toll is only 4,000, more than in the entire Yom Kippur War.” On the morning when Israel reached a dismal peak of more than 10,000 infected per day, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein accused politicians in an interview with the Ynet studio of calling them “populists” in torpedoing restrictions. He said he was considering continuing his path, but concluded that “there is no one in the political system who could maneuver it and lead it better than me.”
“The number of deaths hurts because it is unnecessary.” Edelstein
(Photo: Kobi Cuenx )
Pfizer vaccines at Sheba Hospital
(Photo: Tal Shahar )
According to Edelstein, “I said many weeks ago that we are at the height of this wave, and that we will reach a double-digit number of new infections. Unfortunately, I was right. Not in the sense of ‘I told you so’, but in the sense of not accepting the Ministry of Health’s recommendations. “The result is inevitable. Populism has plagued the country.”
If the decisions were made on time, would we not see burdens in the hospitals?
“Unequivocally. When you are at 1,500 infected you have to start closing, not necessarily closing but imposing certain restrictions until that spirit passes. “Teachers and parents are suffering. The result is inevitable.”
According to Edelstein, some decisions get stuck and do not pass because of populism. “I wish there was only one person I could fight, but that’s the spirit of things in many cases,” he said. “They say do not harm it and do not harm it. It happens in the government, then in the Knesset and then in the media and in the public. People do not fully understand that there are no patents to fight this virus. We are miraculously killing 4,000. It hurts because that number is unnecessary. Who said do not close, all those who opened things. ”
“We do our best,” Edelstein argued. “I am not a magician. The Knesset and the media are constantly asking if I am in favor of revealing the minutes of the cabinet meetings – and I say I am in favor. I want it to be written everywhere what is said there. The Ministry of Health said exactly what was going to happen and what should be done.”
“There is something to improve in enforcement.” A huge wedding in Bnei Brak contrary to the guidelines
On the failure to enforce, Edelstein said: “This is extremely serious, what will I do? I want to see gatherings scattered.” “There is a lot to improve in enforcement and in the ultra-Orthodox sector,” he said.
Edelstein also referred to an article in Ynet about the rate of vaccinated by cities, which showed gaps between secular and ultra-Orthodox and Arab cities, and attributed this to the fact that the ultra-Orthodox and Arab cities have a younger population. However, an article in Ynet explicitly stated that part of the gap is explained by the fact that in the ultra-Orthodox and Arab cities the population is much younger – but also in the examination of the rate of vaccinators aged 60 and over there is a large gap. While 66% of this age group in the general population has already been vaccinated, for the ultra-Orthodox it is only 50% and for the Arabs only 45%.
“There is no doubt that if we had stopped in time, we would not have crossed the threshold of a thousand serious patients and not crossed the 4,000 dead,” Edelstein added. He went on to say that “more than 30% of the new morbidity is probably due to the British mutation, and there are also cases of South African mutation in people who do not know where South Africa is on the map at all. Bring it from other countries.”
Aldstein was asked if the mutations cause excess mortality and replied, “No one can say, but it spreads faster and attacks younger ages. That is the consensus among experts.”
According to Oxford data, Israel is ahead of second-placed Portugal followed by Andorra, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Lebanon, Montenegro, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, the United States, Spain and Sweden. However, Israel is examining more and it may have an impact on morbidity data. According to Oxford, Israel is ranked fourth in the world in corona tests per million inhabitants in the last seven days. In first place is Austria, followed by the United Arab Emirates and Luxembourg. After Israel are Cyprus, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Malta and Andorra. In fact, in relation to the population, almost three times as many tests have been performed in Israel in the last seven days than in the United States – which is ranked 19th in the world in this index.
In the meantime, heavy loads continue to be reported in the hospitals. At Hadassah Ein Kerem, for example, we were informed this morning that the corona ward there now houses 127 patients, 70 of them in critical and critical condition – 24 of whom are breathing. The hospital stated that yesterday they applied to the Ministry of Health for a transfer of new corona patients who are in fair condition to the center of the country.
The Ministry of Health is preparing for strong opposition from government ministers to extend the closure by two weeks, so it is estimated that a compromise will be reached and it will probably be extended by ten days, ie until the night between Saturday and Sunday, January 31. Strong opponents of extending the two-week restrictions are expected to be blue-and-white ministers – who have already announced that they will not agree to this unless “real enforcement is carried out in the ultra-Orthodox sector”, where serious violations have recently been observed and in fact 15% of ultra-Orthodox educational institutions are open.
Along with extending the closure, the government is promoting new restrictions that will include the closure of Ben Gurion Airport, with the exception of essential flights, and a requirement for every passenger arriving on the flight to present a negative Corona test result. However, the installation will not take effect immediately but between Friday and Saturday at midnight, i.e. on January 23rd. In addition, the list of countries whose visitors will be required to be isolated in hotels will be expanded, in light of fears of new virus mutations.