Professor Nimrod Maimon, director of the Internal Medicine B Department at Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva and head of the Fathers' Shield program, has expressed concern over the rate at which Omicron is spreading.
Speaking to 103 FM Radio, Prof. Maimon said, "We are at the beginning of a very steep rise - the numbers will be very high. We know that there will be outbreaks. We need first of all to prepare for the worst. I already understand that we will have a lot of infections. We're going to have a very hard month, or month-and-a-half."
At the same time, he added, "We have several advantages relative to what we had in previous waves. The population is very vaccinated, Omicron is showing itself to be less virulent than previous variants, and we have a medication. We have a lot of tools to handle the pandemic."
Regarding the concerns over Omicron's risks to the elderly, Prof. Maimon told 103 FM, "Older people are very afraid of coronavirus. They waited for the decision of the Health Ministry Director General, and they are running to get vaccinated. We are beginning a rapid operation to vaccinate all of the nursing homes."
"We want to continue life in the nursing homes, to allow them to live," he said. "If there are infections in the nursing homes - we have tools to manage that."
Prof. Maimon also mentioned the outbreak at a Savyon nursing home two weeks ago: "Out of 35 residents who were infected, four were hospitalized and they all went home. All of them were vaccinated. I believe, from the results at Savyon, that Omicron treats the elderly the way it treats the youth. Meaning, the level of virulence is lower."
Regarding the Israeli government's policies, he said, "No one is giving up. We are smarter and understand that lockdowns won't help. Close everything for a month. What happens afterwards? Omicron is here."