With its economy battered, “inconsistent and illogical” lockdown rules, and lack of coordination at the highest levels of the government, Israel can’t be said to have avoided mistakes in its handling of the pandemic. While adding much else to this list of complaints, and acknowledging that much yet remains to be seen, David Horovitz finds that there is much more to praise:
As of this writing, Israel, population 9.2 million people, has suffered 219 fatalities in the coronavirus pandemic. Of the nearly 16,000 confirmed cases, more than half have now recovered. Fewer than 100 Israelis are currently on ventilators. Compare those figures to other countries.
By [one estimate], Israel has 25 fatalities per million citizens—which puts it at about 50th in the world, and better than the global average. With many countries providing less reliable statistics, furthermore, Israel’s global ranking is actually almost certainly considerably better. By no means peerless, but striking nonetheless.
Israel’s relative success, as reflected in [the] comparative statistics, . . . is prompting growing calls for Israel to reverse the norm by which Diaspora Jewry rushes to help it at times of emergency, and to reach out urgently with effective assistance to a Diaspora in pandemic crisis.
[T]hose numbers above underline that, turning 72 in these nightmare circumstances, Israel has at least wary cause for encouragement. They were not always perfectly executed, but the decisions Israel’s leaders and authorities made, and that its citizens generally heeded, were designed to maximize the defense against a mysterious virus that disproportionately targeted the elderly—our parents, our pioneers. For now, the numbers and the comparisons suggest, that strategy has been remarkably effective.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/its-not-over-and-uncertainty-abounds-but-israels-covid-19-stats-are-stunning/