Keep your distance!
Keep your distance!iStock

"Professor Itamar Grotto, Deputy Director-General of the Health Ministry, published guidelines for those planning to meet up with their grandparents and relatives in the near future.

"Many of you will have made plans to reunite with your parents, grandparents, and other elderly relatives, today or in the near future. In order to ensure that this emotional reunion is safe for everyone concerned, I would like to provide a number of important recommendations, and if you are careful to follow them, you will be protecting the welfare of your relatives and making sure that this is a happy time for everyone.

"It’s so important that people reunite with their families as social isolation is known to be damaging to our well-being. So do meet up with your relatives, and just be careful how you do so.

"Here are my recommendations:

"§ No more than one nuclear family at a time should meet with the grandparents.

"§ No one who has a temperature or any symptoms of respiratory illness should visit anyone elderly.

"§ A distance of two meters should be maintained between the younger family members and the grandparents at all times, and so if the meeting place is not large enough to accommodate this with all the younger family members present, some of them should save their reunion for a later time.

"§ When you arrive at your grandparents’ home, the first thing to do is to wash your hands before touching anything.

"§ No kissing, no hugging, no touching at all! And face masks must be worn (except when eating, of course…)

"§ No eating from the same dish as the grandparents. So, disposable dishes and cutlery should be used, or you can be careful to use serving utensils when taking food from dishes placed in the center of the table.

"§ Dishes, cutlery etc. should preferably be washed after use in a dishwasher at 60 degrees or more.

"§ The grandparents’ home should be well ventilated – by opening windows and balcony doors etc.

"§ If at all possible, the visit should take place outdoors. Even when outside, you still have to be careful to adhere to the Health Ministry’s guidelines, and not come within two meters of one another, nor of other people who might be in the vicinity.

"Remember: Adhering to the guidelines makes the difference between endangering yourselves and protecting yourselves and your loved ones."

Professor Grotto also encouraged Israelis to photograph themselves observing the guidelines during their family visits, and post the photos on his website.

"Together, we’ll look after ourselves and each other," he concluded.