The events of the last few days have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that nothing will truly change when it comes to the government's inaptitude in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
The government's move to ease the coronavirus lockdown curbs was supposed to be a small, first step of a months-long exit strategy. Instead, we find ourselves on a slippery slope to another disaster.
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Kids going to school in Jerusalem and Beitar Illit on Sunday, two red cities
(Photo: Shalev Shalom, Moshe Mizrahi)
The decision to reopen kindergartens and preschools nationwide, effectively lifts the lockdown on "red" virus-hit cities, where the curbs were supposed to stay in place until the infection rate there is brought down.
Only a week ago, experts rightly claimed that reopening the education system in those areas will put the the whole country at risk. Despite the warnings, the government decided to allow the education system in those red cities to operate unabated and without capsules.
This served to reinforce what we all already knew: We have no one we can truly trust.
Only on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bragged about how he will “lead us out of the lockdown with caution, responsibility and gradually.” He even claimed that “the first thing we will do is decide on a different course of action for red cities… as to not endanger the rest of the population.”
Two days later, the list of red cities magically dwindled from 14 to five (plus a few neighborhoods), with the closure being extended in these communities by only four days instead of two weeks, as was originally planned.
"The education system in red cities will remain closed," said coronavirus czar Prof. Ronni Gamzu to the public last week. This was also the recommendation whispered into Netanyahu's ear by various medical professionals.
Despite this, educational institutions in red cities have reopened and this inexplicable step was rationalized as a measure needed to avoid “civil unrest”.
The government has also chosen to ignore the illicit reopening of various religious institutions, some of which are also in red communities, that house hundreds of thousands of Ultra-Orthodox students.
No less bizarre is the decisions to open the education system for children aged 0-6 without capsules, to combine kindergartens with after school programs and to allow substitute kindergarten teachers to roam from one preschool to another.
The state also advised all preschool and kindergarten teachers get tested for coronavirus before they return to work. The plan though was announced early Friday, hours before Shabbat, when kindergartens and preschools were already gearing up for reopening on Sunday morning.
After over a month of full, nationwide lockdown, the state decided to take this pivotal step at the very last minute. The government also appears to be mulling the reopening of hotels as soon as this week, in addition to allowing weddings of up to 20 people to take place.
The leadership’s handling of the pandemic seems to sway from one extreme end to the other, there is no sane middle. One minute we are on the verge of a monumental disaster, the other we are on the verge of great success and an example to the entire world.
It would have been better to be strict, since choosing the easy and quick way out has already proven disastrous in the past. But, the government has decided to let up on the lockdown, while wrapping its decision in endless excuses.
With the infection living, kicking and prospering, it is only a matter of time before we see another surge in the number of new daily cases, seriosuly ill in the hospitals, and a further collapse of the economy.