If a foreigner were to visit Israel โ and take a ride in the public transport, eat at a restaurant or go to the movies โ he would see that not only is Israel behaving as if it delivered the pandemic a knockout blow, but that the coronavirus never existed in the first place.
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Nevertheless, despite such complacency in the streets, Israel is yet again going through another outbreak of infections, primarily due to the Delta variant that is more contagious than any strain detected in the past.
According to the Health Ministry, the morbidity rate can spike to thousands of new cases a day in a matter of weeks.
To curb the spread of the virus, the government should have immediately limited the number of people allowed to gather indoors and reinstate the mask mandate.
It should have also reinstated the so-called "purple tag," only allowing businesses that follow ministry guidelines to stay open, and the "green passports," which would give privileges to vaccinated Israelis, such as traveling abroad, entering entertainment venues, and being exempt from self-isolation when coming into contact with a virus carrier.
What did the government do instead? It acted too slow and too late. The ministry reinstated the mask mandate with a statement that sounded almost casual, barely explaining why that was needed. It also stopped encouraging Israelis to get inoculated and removed almost every safety precaution for returnees from abroad.
In mid-June, the ministry announced its victory over the pandemic and, in a reckless move, removed the indoor mask mandate and the green passports, granting unvaccinated Israelis the same privileges as those who did receive an inoculation and allowing them to move around the country freely without any supervision.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz must act swiftly and return the green passports, mandate the use of masks and limit the number of people allowed to gather indoors.
Israel has accomplished incredible global achievements in battling the pandemic, but it cannot allow itself to become complacent. The coronavirus is a cruel and deceptive virus. The country must use its resources to curb it for the sake of our health, economy and nation.
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