Prime Minister’s Mask-Off Restaurant, Bukkeong Restaurant… Is Israel’s pandemic over?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Moses Ryan visited a cafe in Jerusalem on the 7th (hereafter local time).

The two sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in outdoor seats took off their masks, smiled brightly, and raised mugs to celebrate the achievements of the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) vaccination’speed battle’.

At that time, more than 50% of the total population (9.3 million) in Israel had completed the primary vaccination and 40% had completed the secondary vaccination.

In an interview with Fox News of the United States on the 5th, Netanyahu, who evaluated “Israel is the first country to escape the pandemic through fast and efficient vaccination,” said in a celebration event for exceeding 5 million first vaccinations on the 8th. “Israel will get out of the pandemic once the adult population has been vaccinated,” he was optimistic.

◇ A restaurant full of citizens who took off their masks… “The reservation for 10 days is over.”

After the splendid media play of Prime Minister Netanyahu, who put his life and death on vaccination ahead of the general election on the 23rd, Israel looks like the only’pandemic liberation zone’ in the world.

While most commercial facilities such as restaurants, bars and shopping malls have been restarted, citizens who have only stayed at home due to quarantine measures have flocked to the business area, forming a confusion.

According to a local daily Times of Israel report, restaurants and pubs in major Israeli cities are cheering with crowds of customers after reopening on the 7th due to the third easing of blockades. Some restaurants say that all ten-day reservations are over.

Hagai, who co-runs a restaurant called Gucha in Tel Aviv, said, “It’s crazy. After reopening, the number of customers is crowding to the level of the previous weekend, even on weekdays,” he said.

Sharon Mizrahi, who runs a seafood restaurant in Tel Aviv, said reservation inquiries received 400 calls and dozens of e-mails a day, and there wasn’t enough time to respond.

Sales surged as stores were available at restaurants that were only available for packaging and delivery.

Credit card companies reported that from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.,’Brunch Time’ sales increased 15% from a week ago.

While easing the blockade, Israel introduced a’Green Pass’ system to discriminate against vaccinated and unvaccinated people in their daily lives. Green Pass holders are allowed indoor access, but non-vaccinated persons may only sit outside seats.

It also maintains quarantine rules such as wearing a mask and keeping distance, but in fact, such a system seems meaningless in entertainment districts.

The situation just two months ago, when up to 10,000 confirmed cases per day poured out and 1,400 people died from Corona 19 in a month, seems to be a long past.

◇ Corona 19 related indicators are also stable… Expert recognition

In fact, Israel’s Corona 19 indicator has shown remarkable stability in recent years.

The number of confirmed cases per day has dropped to the 2,500 range, which is a quarter of the peak in mid-January, and the number of severely ill patients has reached the lowest level in the early 600 range since the end of December last year.

The infection reproductive index, which temporarily exceeded 1 after the blockade eased, has recently dropped to 0.8, and the positive rate to the number of tests is also maintained at the 3% range.

As the relevant indicators show stability, experts who have regarded the easing of blockades pushed by the leadership as a’political decision’ are also changing their attitudes.

Prof. Nahman Ash, the head of Israel’s Corona 19 quarantine, appeared on a radio broadcast on the 10th and evaluated that it shows a significant decline in indicators related to Corona 19, such as the number of new infected people.

In addition, the Israeli Ministry of Health also stated that it is possible to ease the blockade further, considering related statistics.

◇ The inoculation rate is 60% and there are between 2,000 and 3,000 new confirmed cases… ‘Pandemic graduation is still’

By the morning of the 13th, about 5117,000 people, or about 60% of the total population (approximately 9.3 million people), had completed the second vaccination in Israel.

The number of people who completed the second vaccination also reached 4094,000, or 40% of the population.

Including the 780,000 people who recovered from the infection, the number of people estimated to have Corona 19 antibodies is 4.87 million, which has already exceeded 50% of the total population.

Still, more than 2,000 confirmed cases per day appear to be due to the low vaccination rate of children and adolescents under the age of 16 and young people who are in the’blind spot for vaccination’.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, more than half of the latest new cases are children and adolescents under the age of 19.

In fact, according to the statistics site OurWorld In Data, a statistical site operated by Oxford University in the UK, the vaccination rate for those aged 60 and older as of March 6 (two doses) in Israel was 80.5%, while the vaccination rate for those aged 16 to 59 was 19.99%. It is stopping.

Children and adolescents under the age of 16, which make up nearly 30% of the total Israeli population, are not yet officially vaccinated because there is no clear clinical data yet.

In addition, the presence of passive groups such as ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arabs against quarantine and vaccination, or the presence of passive groups, is a negative factor in Israel’s pandemic graduation.

Moreover, it is not known how long the duration of the antibodies generated through the COVID-19 vaccination will be.

Prime Minister Netanyahu also announced plans to secure an additional 36 million doses of the vaccine, assuming that the duration of the antibody may not last longer than six months.

This is why experts point out that they are not yet able to reassure the Corona 19 situation.

“Corona 19 hasn’t gone away. The virus will stay with us longer. This is the situation, at least until next year,” said Professor Jakob Harbiz of the Herzog Medical Center in an interview with the Jerusalem Post, referring to the situation where thousands of confirmed cases are still pouring a day. It will be maintained.”

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