Israel: Case Study in How Not to Control a Coronavirus Epidemic

"A lot of parents were overwhelmed [during lockdown] with trying to handle schooling their kids. Many families might not have enough computers."

"Canadians have a much different idea of personal space. A lot of teachers in Israel don’t think it will be enforceable to keep kids separated because they haven’t grown up that way."

"There are a lot of questions out there and not many answers yet. But there is no perfect solution until there is a vaccine."

"I think it’s a cautionary tale [Israel's large numbers of coronavirus cases] of a rushed, naïve and overconfident start-up."

Marina Milner-Bolotin, education professor, University of British Columbia

Israeli school children wear face masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus as they walk in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, July 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

 

A population of nine million people reports four thousand new cases on one day alone. A trend of upward spurting cases in Israel which had been confident in the early stages after its initial round of cases when SARS-CoV-2 first entered the country and surged then responded to action taken to lockdown, urging self-isolation, mandating against meeting in groups and persuading the population to wear masks. When the caseload became manageable and the government felt it had managed to effectively control the outbreak, a relaxation of the rules took place and jubilant Israelis went about life as normal.

Schools were re-opened and the pace of life and spontaneity returned as summer heated up and the population flocked to beaches while the orthodox returned to worship in synagogues; mosques and churches wee released from lockdown because, after all, COVID-19 had been nicely tamed, and the prime minister, smiling benevolently, assured the population that all is well and go and enjoy summer. Naive indeed. Although Israel's medical community no doubt felt qualms of what next to expect, chafing against a government decision that failed to consult as it should have.

Over the past two months cases maintained that surge of daily counts of 3,000 and 4,000 new cases overwhelming hospitals and leaving the indelible impression among the Israeli population that their government had spectacularly failed them. A government teetering on the brink of dissolution and prospects of yet another election, focusing on politics, viewing the pandemic as a mere side-issue. One that has in fact taken control of the country as it takes a deadly toll of public health.

 

A technician carries out a diagnostic test for coronavirus in a lab at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv on August 3, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

 

The display of national discipline during round one of COVID-19 imbued both government and the people with confidence; they were doing the right thing. But then, lockdown was onerous and people got fed up with it all, and looked for ways to relieve the tedium, as cases tumbled and the future looked good. Late March succeeded in its persuasive need to be vigilant and isolated. By mid-May, fewer than 20 new cases were being reported daily. Everyone looked for release as restaurants re-opened.

It took until June to realize that the situation was reversing and case numbers were escalating even as children were exposed at school and community infection soared. By July, public health expert, epidemiologist Prof.Ronni Gamzu was appointed to the post of coronavirus czar, his mandate, to develop and implement a national strategy for containment. The public dreaded an order to lockdown again; resentment and anger toward their government built to a crescendo and public displays of dissatisfaciton became loud and demanding.

 

Store owners at Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market scuffle with police during a protest over the continued closure of open-air markets, April 25, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

 

 

 

The real and actual threat to the entire population was well enough known; ultra-Orthodox and Arab municipalities were never as amenable to precautionary moves that other citizens assented to. In those communities people live closer together; attendance at synagogue and mosques by congregants was viewed as vital, despite government orders. Those municipalities became hot-spots of infection. Orders to isolate went ignored and infections soared.

"The haredi political parties have a highly motivated voter base that consistently delivers enough Knesset seats to hand the leaders disproportionate leverage [in relation to their population] when it comes to negotiating coalition agreements. And so, as happned in March, haredi leaders told Netanyah recently that they wuld not accept being locked down unless the whole nation was and, as they did in March, when the mere notion of targeting haredi communities arose again in August, the ultra-Orthodox parties threatened to quit the colaition. Netanyahu, as he so often does, capitulated."

Vivian Bercovici, former Canadian ambassador to Israel

The large families typical of Arab and ultra-Orthodox Jews live in cramped, crowded quarters, and what they share is a negligent attitude toward authority in general, and directions to change the imperatives of their lifestyles directed toward worship and close physical association in particular. But those same communities, under Israel's system of electoral governance, often hold the balance of power; minority elected governments need the support of such groups and tend to cave in to their demands, for ongoing political gain.

The curfews imposed on 40 "red" municipalities throughout the country from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., the orders not to hold large weddings and other group events went largely ignored and these typically super-spreader social events have created a disastrous situation of rampant infections. The medical authority's orders are spurned and cast aside; no one can tell these communities what to do; and the government is more concerned with the support it needs in the Knesset than enforcing the rules for the safety of all.

"A recently compiled list of 40 "red hot" municipalities are virtually all majorityArab or haredi [ultra-Orthodox]. And therein lies the problem. As they did in March, medical professionals, public servants and some politicians advocated early on this time that more stringent measures must be applied to affected municipalities on a targeted basis. This caused both constituencies -- but particularly the haredim -- to protest vigorously. They accused politicians and public health officials of discrimination."

Vivian Bercovici in Tel Aviv

The plan to place the ultra-Orthodox communities under lockdown reflecting this is where COVID cases are skyrocketing, while leaving the rest of the country under semi-lockdown conditions offends the Haredi populations who refuse to go into lockdown unless the entire country does. Even at a time when the country as a whole went into lockdown, these same communities exercised a relaxed attitude to the need to self-isolate and angrily rebuked the government when their communities were designated as "red hot" requiring special lockdown even as the rest of the country began relaxing theirs.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men pray behind a plastic screen during morning prayers in a Jewish seminary in Bnei Brak, Israel, on Sept. 9. Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images