As Israel approaches the High Holy Days early next month, there is growing concern that the government will have to impose a lockdown if corona infections continue to spiral.
This is not solely the government’s problem. It affects the entire nation, and it is up to every citizen to take responsibility for their own health.
First, everyone should be adhering to the new restrictions approved by the cabinet on Tuesday night. But we should also be employing common sense to ensure that we and our loved ones do not get the virus.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett convened the cabinet as the daily COVID caseload surpassed 3,000 for the first time since March. Among the new measures starting this Sunday:
• The full green pass system will be in place again (and from August 20 for children under 12)
• Masks will be mandatory in all outdoor gatherings, and a vaccinated/recovered parent caring for a child in quarantine under the age of 12 will be demanded to isolate as well
• Government offices will work with only 50% of their workforce present, and the private sector will be encouraged to do the same
• More stringent criteria will be adopted to place countries under a travel ban, leaving a very limited number of nations to be visited freely by Israelis without the need to quarantine upon their return.
Two days after Israel began its booster campaign for Israelis over the age of 60 on August 1, Bennett led by personal example, accompanying his mother, Myrna, to the Maccabi Healthcare Services clinic in Haifa, where she received the third dose of the vaccine.
“The Delta pandemic is increasing dramatically around the world,” Bennett said. “It is striking mainly at the older population, the people who are most important to us, in my case, my mother.”
Bennett noted that almost nine out of 10 people who are very sick are over the age of 60. The booster, the third vaccine, simply “reloads” the body’s defenses and allows us to save lives, he said.
“All that is necessary, and all that I ask of everyone – children, grandchildren and parents – go and get vaccinated. Vaccinate a third time, whoever is over age 60. Young people who have not gone to get vaccinated – go and get vaccinated! The more we vaccinate, the more we protect mother and father and also safeguard an open Israel.”
Bennett’s mother backed his call.
“I would have come even if he was not the prime minister, because I truly believe that this is important to all of us,” she said. “The elderly are doing this, but I worry about younger people who have not yet received the first vaccination. I want to be with him for Rosh Hashanah and go to my grandson’s wedding in October. I do not want another lockdown.”
Corona cases driven by the Delta variant are rising in a “very steep fashion” across the United States, and may double in the coming weeks to 200,000 cases a day, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on Wednesday.
Fauci said the US could be “in trouble” entering the fall, unless a large portion of unvaccinated Americans decide to get the shots.
“What we’re seeing, because of this increase in transmissibility and because we have about 93 million people in this country who are eligible to get vaccinated who don’t get vaccinated, that you have a significant pool of vulnerable people,” Fauci said.
We echo the appeals by Fauci, Bennett and his mother. There are still almost 1.5 million Israelis who have not been vaccinated. For the sake of the entire nation, to stop the spread of the virus, we must all get vaccinated, and after that, protect ourselves and those with whom we come into contact.
That means that if you get on a bus or enter a supermarket and see people without masks, say something.
Let’s not forget the principle of “Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh” – we are all responsible not just for ourselves, but for one another.