Ben-Gurion University experts team head and former Negev Nuclear Research Campus chief scientist Prof. Dov Schwartz tonight called to impose an "almost complete closure" on the country, in an attempt to prevent imposing a full closure on the economy.
"I call on the Prime Minister and the Alternate Prime Minister and the Knesset Coronavirus Committee Chair: Wake up, we're one step away from catastrophe," he said.
Two weeks ago, Ben-Gurion University's team of experts predicted that without mitigation measures including closure, the rapid increase in morbidity would result in one thousand people in serious condition and about five hundred dying in August.
Prof. Schwartz repeated: "The latest news and latest results indicate that we're continuing to gallop towards the abyss, where we can't avoid reaching a state where the coronavirus wards will reach maximum capacity and doctors will have to decide who to ventilate and who will die."
According to him, "Our stopping distance, even in a situation where we immediately impose a full closure, is about 3 weeks. This is also the time it will take to reach maximum capacity. We already burned all the reserve days because of all the political preoccupation, committees, and endless discussions about restaurants, gyms, pools, and mikvahs.
"The only way before a full closure is to activate an 'almost full closure', ie: closure rules that release only things essential for the economy and that were proven to work well in the First Wave: Summer school - study in 'capsules' for kindergartens and grades 1-3 only; Leaving for work five days a week while maintaining closure on weekends (Friday morning - Sunday morning) and on all evenings of the week, voluntary isolation for all senior citizens and risk groups," Schwartz counselled.
"In relation to all other things, one must act in the opposite direction to that taken by the Knesset committee - if there's no proof that it's harmless, don't open it! Therefore: no pools, no restaurants, no synagogues, and no gyms," he stated.