Opinion: To stop inrush of COVID cases and save themselves from public’s ire, ministers must stop rationalizing inaction and make some hard decisions, including stringent restrictions and vaccination mandates
Although it may seem like ages ago, it was only two months ago — in the midst of a reprieve from coronavirus that saw the daily number of patients drop to single digits — that Ynet published an op-ed warning of a new COVID outbreak.
The article mentioned how our new government’s complacent optimism made it completely ignore the risk posed by more virulent variants of the pathogen, as well as the consequent possibility of another COVID outbreak in Israel.
The same article also enumerated a series of proposals, drawn up by the country’s top experts, on how to reign in the pandemic before another outbreak hits. Ultimately, none have been adopted by the political echelon.
The rest, as they say, is history. Israel, which was once seen as the perfect model for a country that managed to beat the pandemic thanks to its trailblazing vaccination push, has devolved into another red country that failed to contain the pathogen.
Now, we’re on the precipice of losing control of the fourth wave, bolting head on to a thousand COVID-19 patients in serious condition.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government itself is holding desperately to keep their hard-gained control over the country.
This government’s downfall won’t be the 2021/22 state budget, nor the growing tensions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but what the general public perceives as an inexcusable failure to control the pandemic.
It is impossible to see the government’s insistent refusal to adequately enforce health measures as anything other than almost criminal negligence.
This makes Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked’s outrageous attempts to present her government’s impotence as simply a “different worldview” and a strategy of “containing the dead” makes oh the more infuriating.
It is, of course, all utter nonsense.
Coronavirus ministers thought they were one step ahead of the pandemic all along, ignoring expert advice and avoiding restrictions that could anger the public.
The ministers lived in a bubble that remained surprisingly intact even when reality came crashing in their faces as the pandemic started to pick up the pace again.
Presenting the government’s failures as a conscious decision might have far-reaching consequences on the whole fabric of trust between the state and its citizens.
Take car accidents for example — 330 people are killed on the road in Israel each year on average.
Going by Shaked’s logic, we may have to cease with our foolish efforts to improve road safety and “contain the dead.”
The government has opted for a strategy of capitulating to COVID and digging up more graves but not before presenting a grandiose, and likely unrealistic, plan to substantially and quickly increase hospitals’ patient capacity.
That is not a strategy, but the government’s self-delusion. We can still turn things around. With the booster shot campaign for citizens aged 60 and over underway, Bennett’s “government for change” has proven it can make an unprecedented decision based on scientific data when it has to.
The government can, and must, also expand the booster shot push to include those aged 40 and over, order vaccine mandates for all public sector workers (no exceptions) and school students aged 12 and over and set a uniform standard restricting all gatherings.
The government must generously fund vaccination campaigns that specifically target the Arab sector and nursing homes, as well as hire hundreds more doctors and nurses to staff the country’s hospitals.
There is no guarantee these steps and/or similar measures will save Israel from another lockdown during the High Holidays, but it will surely make it much more effective, and perhaps… even save this government.
As reported by Ynetnews