Headlines this morning proclaimed that Israel recorded the lowest coronavirus test positivity since July. Yesterday, just 5.4% of PCR tests for RNA from the SARS-CoV-2 virus found what they were looking for, the lowest percentage since early July. Let’s look at that number a bit deeper. Israel’s testing regimen Israel has fairly high per-capita testing […]
Category: Covid-19
Israel’s second lockdown is working, but there’s trouble ahead
Some data and thoughts on the lockdown and what happens next. 1. The lockdown is working All indicators now show that infections are dropping, test positivity is falling, and hospitalisations appear to have peaked, too. The percentage of coronavirus tests coming back positive has fallen from a peak of over 15% down to just 8% […]
Covid-19 and Israel’s R budget
We were never explicitly told this was the strategy, but back in March and April, Israel’s government seemed to be trying to fully suppress the new coronavirus: reduce daily cases to zero. The country locked down, visitors were forced to quarantine, foreign citizens were banned, with a view to a full reopening. At the first […]
Covid, Capsules and Haredi Privilege
I want to talk a bit about privilege. Privilege is a buzzword on the progressive Left right now, where it means something like “the advantages you have in life”, I suppose. Or maybe “The disadvantages in life that you don’t have”. But that’s not what the word really means. As I learnt from Terry Pratchett, […]
The Cost of Uncertainty
There’s a big cost to a lockdown, but the uncertainly about lockdowns only makes that cost higher.