There’s been a LOT of confusion over how long mandatory quarantine (aka self-isolation or בידוד, “Bidud“) lasts in Israel. I probably get a few messages a week asking me about it, and it’s a popular topic on Secret Jerusalem too. Basically, there are two categories of quarantine in Israel, as there are in many other […]
Author: arieh
In the Red Zone
Earlier this week, the Israeli Government, via the Coronavirus Cabinet, adopted Prof. Ronni Gamzu’s plan, which is officially called the rather dramatic “Shield of Israel plan” but everyone just calls the traffic light plan. If you’re a regular, you know I’m sceptical about the plan because it currently calls for a significant easing of social […]
Covid Roundup 30 August
Gamzu plan authorized…ish? The Coronavirus Cabinet today finally voted unanimously to adopt the Gamzu Plan, which is known in Israel as “Tochnit HaRamzor”, the traffic light plan. Under the plan, cities will have different rules according to the level of infection, with additional restrictions on red cities and relaxations in most everywhere else. It will […]
Hospital numbers should be down; they’re up
In some sense, hospital numbers and deaths are the only ‘real’ measure of how a country is tackling the coronavirus pandemic. On that measure, things have taken a turn for the worse this week. The drop in test positivity led me to predict that hospitalisations and serious cases would fall this week. In fact, the […]
Covid Roundup 25 August
Just a few brief updates: Serious Covid-19 cases in Israel are up to 427, the highest recorded number since the start of the pandemic. 121 are on ventilators, the highest since the last wave. I suspect that this increase is because of the higher age profile of recent new infections — more on this in […]