The coronavirus cabinet is expected to meet around 6 p.m. on Tuesday to approve a decision made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, Education Minister Yoav Gallant and health professionals that would open up preschools, kindergartens and grades 1-4 in yellow and green cities only.
The original agreement does not appear to include students in grades 11 and 12, though it is expected that they, too, will go back to school in areas with low morbidity – especially given that many of them have started vaccinating against coronavirus.
The shift in ideology came after cabinet ministers were warned by top health professionals on Sunday night that opening schools quickly could lead to a rapid and extensive spread of coronavirus, including among children and younger adults.
“We are concerned about opening schools in orange and red areas with high morbidity,” Head of Public Health Services Prof. Sharon Alroy-Preis said Sunday night. “Before the lockdown, there were outbreaks in schools. One child would get ill and dozens more would follow.
“We do not want to leave the children at home, but the risk in the orange and red cities is significant,” she said.
After the meeting, Gallant shared on Facebook that for him “the determining and most important criteria [for opening schools] in a period of uncertainty is health.”
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He said that everyone at the cabinet meeting was surprised to understand that morbidity had not decreased substantially despite the closure and the mass vaccination campaign.
The rate of infection does appear to be slightly declining in recent days.
On Tuesday morning, the Health Ministry showed 7,761 new cases of the virus were diagnosed the day before – 8.8% of people screened tested positive.
The number of patients in serious condition remains high at 1,088, including 404 people who are rated in critical condition.
The death toll stood at 5,192.
The challenge is that the number of yellow and green cities is small and only accounts for less than 30% of the country’s children. As such, the cabinet is expected to discuss if some neighborhoods in large orange cities, like Tel Aviv, could be eligible to return. In addition, they are…
Read More: Coronavirus cabinet to meet Tuesday, children to spend another day at home