The Israeli government may reimpose some restrictions on public activity aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, Israel’s coronavirus czar said Monday.
Speaking with Radio 103FM Monday morning, Prof. Nachman Ash said that while the recent spate of COVID outbreaks – including a number of cases of the Indian variant of the coronavirus – Israel is not currently in the midst of a fourth wave of the pandemic.
But, Ash continued, “if we see that the outbreaks continue, we will put the masks back on everywhere.”
Ash called on parents to vaccinate children ages 12 to 15, as the Health Ministry gears up for a mass vaccination campaign for children in that age group. Ash also advised travelers with children to cancel non-essential trips abroad.
On Sunday, Channel 13 and Kan reported that Health Ministry officials are already drafting a recommendation to the government to reimpose the mask mandate in schools, and that the Ministry is also considering calling on the government to restore the mask mandate in all public indoor areas.
Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton (New Hope) slammed Health Ministry officials Sunday, accusing them of fomenting an atmosphere of panic.
“Get serious,” Shasha-Biton, who formerly chaired the Knesset’s Coronavirus Committee, said during a government meeting Sunday. “I’ve been following the numbers since May, and the infection coefficient has always been around 1.”
“We’re not in an emergency situation,” Shasha-Biton continued, expressing her opposition to the decision to renew an emergency law enabling the government to pass COVID-related laws without Knesset approval, giving the Knesset only the ability to retroactively nullify such laws.