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Outgoing IDF commander in charge of epidemiological testing of COVID says the Omicron wave will not be the last.
Lt. Col. Tal Aviv who was chief epidemiological investigator for the IDF Homefront Alon command, assisting in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, said on Thursday that epidemiological investigations to carry out contact tracing and slow the spread of COVID were necessary and useful at the time but were not applicable when the Omicron variant spread.
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Outgoing chief IDF epidemiological investigator Lt. Col. Tal Aviv
(Photo: Yariv Katz )
"It may be useful again as the wave subsides," he said. "When there are about 3,000 daily infections, our technological and human driven investigations can be very helpful, he said.
"Initially investigations were carried out by a small number of people who under the circumstances, did a very good job but despite annual drills to prepare for mass casualty events, no one in the Health Ministry or the military could have anticipated the pandemic's veracity," he said.
"The IDF is geared to contribute to any national effort in which it is required, Aviv said. " I believe that without the military's involvement, more people would have died from COVID-19," he said.
"I am not convinced that the wave caused by the Omicron variant will be the last, that we will have to contend with," he said. "It is conceivable that a new variant will spread that may be as potent as the Delta or worse."
Aviv said he understood the public's reluctance to allow the military to trace personal phones, fearing misuse but said the IDF exercised a good balance of maintain people's privacy and preventing the spread of disease.
"I think a tracing technology was necessary," he said. "a good example is when a confirmed Omicron carrier traveled from Tel Aviv to Eilat on public transport. Without tracing, we would not have know what bus she was on and who may have been exposed to the virus."