Israel's Health and Education Ministries on Monday began a short pilot to shorten the length of quarantine, Israel Hayom reported.
The pilot operated in two schools around Israel, in a small number of classes. However, Israel Hayom has discovered that one of the participating schools has been almost completely closed due to a high number of coronavirus infections, and will no longer continue teaching as planned
As a result, out of the two schools participating in the "Green Class" pilot, one has ended its participation. That school included children from grades 1-8, and six of those grades (3-8) were sent to learn at home, with some of the students entering quarantine. Grades 1-2 are still attending school in person. The principal and vice principal of that school have also been diagnosed with coronavirus.
Under the new pilot plan, students in a class where one child was diagnosed with coronavirus will not enter quarantine for one week. Instead, only the child confirmed to have contracted coronavirus will be quarantined, and the rest of the students will remain in class, undergoing daily coronavirus tests. If another student in the class is diagnosed, that student enters quarantine, while the others begin the seven-day count again, undergoing daily coronavirus tests instead of entering quarantine.
However, the pilot was not implemented as planned, and the students in the class were sent into quarantine and began learning from home.
If the pilot succeeds, it will become the default for all schools. Currently, the pilot is only being conducted in haredi schools, since they began studying on August 9. In September, it will be expanded to include Arab schools, which are expected to hold regular school throughout the month of September, when Jewish schools break often for holidays.
The results of the pilot program will become the basis for decision-making on the issue of quarantine and schools.