Over the weekend, the Jewish state recorded its 100th death from COVID-19. Alarming as this figure may be, David Horovitz argues that comparison with countries that were slower and more cautious in implementing social-distancing measures suggests that Jerusalem’s swift and stringent approach has accomplished much:
Sweden decided not to follow conventional wisdom and did not impose a radical lockdown to thwart the spread of the coronavirus. With a population about the same size as Israel’s at 10 million, it has recorded almost 900 deaths at the time of writing—nine times as many as Israel. The UK, which hemmed and hawed before going into lockdown, has a population about seven times that of Israel, and had recorded almost 10,000 deaths at time of writing—almost 100 times as many as Israel.
These and numerous other comparisons underline how much worse things could have been by now in Israel had the government not moved quickly—first to discourage nonessential overseas travel and then to seal off Israel [almost completely], and to impose fairly stringent restrictions on movement—in the battle against the contagion.
Yet Horovitz warns against complacency, noting the failure to screen or quarantine new arrivals to the country, the challenges of reopening the economy, and the disturbingly high rates of infection in Orthodox and Arab communities, as well as in old-age homes. And much more remains to be done:
We [in Israel] need transparent criteria for lockdowns, so that nobody need feel that this or that sector is being discriminated against. We need to reach the testing levels our leaders rightly deemed necessary to identify new areas of concern swiftly, and to assess efficiently where restrictions can be eased. We need action, rather than endless talk, when it comes to evacuating carriers, ensuring the ultra-Orthodox and Arab sectors are properly equipped, and tackling the outbreaks in elder-care facilities.
This virus is going to be blighting our lives for a long time yet. Israel, it would seem, is far from out of the woods. And not because we’re an ill-disciplined citizenry.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-got-the-macro-decisions-right-on-covid-19-but-its-in-danger-of-slipping/