The coronavirus, spurred by the Delta variant, continues to surge across Israel. Last week, the coronavirus cabinet laid out an extended list of rules. But the country’s COVID-19 National Expert Advisory Panel had recommended that Israel take additional steps even before the end of the month.
Also, the Health and Education ministries are expected to present their plans for the 2021-2022 school year to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday.
In a meeting that took place last week and whose minutes were obtained by The Jerusalem Post, the panel, which is led by Prof. Ran Balicer, recommends extending the Green Pass program to events that have any number of people.
The government last week said that Green Pass rules will only apply to events of more than 100 people.
“The team unanimously recommended the immediate operation of a ‘softened’ green character at every location in which the Green Pass applied until May 2021, irrespective of if there are more or less than 100 people,” the meeting minutes read.
The Green Pass applies to gyms, theaters, hotels, concerts and synagogues, among other places.
The panel also proposed moving toward requiring children under the age of 12 to be tested before entering events as soon as the country is ready to provide such testing.
It likewise suggested that some businesses and events that specifically serve people-at-risk, such as the elderly, could already take additional steps by voluntarily taking on a “White Pass” or “Tightened Green Pass” and already require testing of unvaccinated children – or even other vaccinated people who had recently been near someone with the virus before entry.
“This would allow people-at-risk to feel safer when attending events,” the notes said.
The panel stressed that it is important to take additional steps to contain the spread of the virus “as early as this month, with an emphasis on those steps that can be taken only at the present stage, before the disease spreads beyond the ability of the epidemiological investigation system and beyond the stage in which the economy can manage with the resulting level of people in isolation.”
What about opening schools on September 1?
While the panel agreed that the goal is to open the school year according to routine – something that both Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz have said is a priority – it said that a “new routine” should be established to ensure the infection rate remains manageable as classes resume.
“Action must be taken to reduce the number of students per classroom in the coming year,” the panel said.
This could include learning in capsules or making more classes and holding some in the afternoon; elementary school days traditionally end no later than 2:30 p.m. in Israel.
The Education Ministry has been pushing for a plan in which classes will open in their regular sizes and in which no student will enter isolation unless he tests positive for the virus. According to the ministry’s plan, a spokesperson for the ministry confirmed for the Post, anyone who was near the infected child would be administered a rapid test; students who test negative could return to school regardless of his or her age.
However, the panel is recommending that such a system only be applied to elementary schools but that middle and high schools be held to a different standard.
The panel said it recommends that if a sick student is discovered in a preschool or elementary school attended by children under the age of 12, everyone in the child’s classroom and any teachers who came in contact with the student would be administered a rapid antigen test; those who test negative could go back to school. In the absence of rapid tests, anyone who came in contact with the student would enter isolation until a negative test result was obtained.
But in middle and high schools, in which students could be inoculated, if a sick student was discovered, an epidemiological investigation would be conducted. Any vaccinated student or teacher who came in contact with the sick individual would be tested. If their test was negative, the individual could return to school. Unvaccinated students would be required to enter seven days of isolation regardless of the test results.
Finally, the panel is also recommending that all people who land at Ben-Gurion Airport be asked not only to take a test on arrival but also to ensure a negative result four days later. Vaccinated people, however, could remain out of isolation from the first negative test even though they would be asked to undergo the additional screening.