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A day after Israel surpassed the grim milestone of 6,000 coronavirus deaths, a senior health expert said Monday the country could have done more to prevent the fatalities.
"We could have brought the number of dead down. We could have always done better," Prof. Galia Rahav, Head of the Infectious Disease Unit and Laboratories at the Sheba Medical Center told Ynet TV.
"If we had exited the lockdown in a more gradual manner, if we had done something about Ben-Gurion Airport during the third infection wave to prevent the UK variant from entering the country – then, I believe we could have kept the number [of deaths] lower."
Coronavirus infection rate and new cases, however, continue to decline and Rahav said it is "amazing to see the number of vaccinated people go up and morbidity and infectivity going down."
She added that people should continue to adhere to health guidelines and keep extra precautions since the pandemic is far from over. "I hear people saying, 'the world is back to normal' and it scares me a bit," Rahav said.
"I tell them wait, give the virus some respect. Sure, there are lots of inoculated people, but there is still a large number of unvaccinated who are still at risk from contracting the pathogen. Children still cannot get vaccinated. People who have recovered could still get infected, so we still have a lot to learn, we still do not know everything, it is still new to us."
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Prof. Galia Rahav, Head of the Infectious Disease Unit and Laboratories at the Sheba Medical Center
(Photo: Dana Kopel)
Prof. Rahav said that even those who'd been vaccinated with both shots could still get infected.
"I am scared of a person becoming infected despite having had the vaccine. It is clear that there are such cases and we have observed them, but the illness [among them] is still rather mild. Do they infect others? That we still do not know. Although I am happy the economy has reopened, I think we need to slow down," she added.
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein's announced Sunday that clubs and bars are expected to reopen next week under the Green Pass outline. Rahav for her part recommended that clubgoers wear face masks indoors, even if they are vaccinated.
"You can hang out with people and have a good time – just keep a mask on," she said. "You can take it off for a second, have a drink and then put it back on. We can try to go on without them, but it is too much of a risk. We do not want to see another rise in morbidity."
The professor said that young people going out should remain cautions also because the UK strain of coronavirus, which has long become dominant in Israel, infects younger population at a much higher rate than previous variants.
"We see young people in ICUs. We still fatalities that are 35, 27 and 40 years old. There is a serious infection wave affecting this age group. Also, do not forget that even people who had the virus and were not seriously ill, can still develop post-COVID symptoms, that impair their day-to-day functioning," Rahav added.
With the Jewish holiday of Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan coming up, Rahav said that it is still unclear whether festivities will be held without any sort of restrictions.
"There are a lot of opinions on this, every expert has a different one. There is no bulletproof method. I for one would not approve gatherings of over 20 people – even if all participants are vaccinated," she said.
"Children are still not vaccinated, there is nothing we can do about it. I do not know if this is a viable option, but I would suggest that children take a rapid test for coronavirus before the Seder. A safe gathering is 20 people max, all vaccinated – and if possible, with children who have tested negative for the virus."