Israel: Concern of new wave though educational system

Ora in town

Sun, May 24 2020, 2:30 pm

amother [ Jade ] wrote:

I don't know how accurate these antibody tests are. People who were donating plasma who had very high levels had them drop to almost nothing a few weeks later. I'm not sure those tests are catching everyone who already had it.

Well, in most studies, antibody tests catch 10x to 30x the number of registered cases...

In Sweden too, registered cases are around 34'000...
7,5% of population would be 750'000
So antibody-tests gave 20 times registred cases...

DrMom

Sun, May 24 2020, 2:37 pm

CiCi wrote:

But eventually there will be incoming flights from the US. My question is if the virus can be contained forever and at what cost?

Well that "eventually" will depend on the virus infection rate in the US.

And some sort of testing will be required before passengers get on a plane. Maybe even before they enter the airport.

I don't think anyone will accept a bunch of unvetted tourists from some virus hotspot flying into our country.

amother

Pumpkin

Sun, May 24 2020, 2:43 pm

[quote="DrMom"]Well that "eventually" will depend on the virus infection rate in the US.

And some sort of testing will be required before passengers get on a plane. Maybe even before they enter the airport.

I don't think anyone will accept a bunch of unvetted tourists from some virus hotspot flying into our country.[/quote

Um... they are letting anyone on a student visa in. They have to quarantine for 2 weeks but I haven't heard of anyone being tested before or after the 2 weeks are up ( which why does that make sense?)

DrMom

Sun, May 24 2020, 2:55 pm

amother [ Pumpkin ] wrote:

DrMom wrote:

Um... they are letting anyone on a student visa in. They have to quarantine for 2 weeks but I haven't heard of anyone being tested before or after the 2 weeks are up ( which why does that make sense?)

Students are a mere trickle compared to the flood of tourists Israel typically receives in any given year. Last year we had 4.5 million tourists. We're not going to let 4.5M unvetted people run round a tiny country in a pandemic.

Also, I do not know if new student visas are being issued now.

etky

Mon, Jun 01 2020, 2:11 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/1863103/new-wave-of-covid-19-100s-of-kids-isolated-as-staff-in-bnei-brak-tel-aviv-rishon-ltzion-rosh-haayin-test-positive.html

There’s concern about a new wave of the coronavirus in Israel through the educational system as more and more reports are heard about staff members in educational institutions and daycare centers being diagnosed with the coronavirus, Channel 12 News reported. The latest reports are about staff members of daycare centers in Bnei Brak and Rosh HaAyin who tested positive for COVID-19.

Earlier on Thursday, about 50 children in a kindergarten in north Tel Aviv had to be quarantined after a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus.

Also on Thursday, an assistant at a kindergarten in Rishon L’Tzion was diagnosed with the coronavirus, sending the children and other staff members in the class into self-quarantine.

In Bnei Brak, an assistant at a special education gan was diagnosed with the coronavirus sending an unspecified number of children and staff members into quarantine. Earlier this week, 15 eighth-grade students in the Zichron Meir girls’ high school in Bnei Brak were required to self-quarantine after one of their classmates was diagnosed with the virus.

In Rechovot, where dozens of students at a school were quarantined after two staff members tested positive for the virus, a staff member at the Beit Chana hostel tested positive for the virus.

Three staff members and 27 residents were sent into self-quarantine and the other residents of the hostel will be tested for the virus.

Two students at the Rechovot school who were self-quarantining were diagnosed with the coronavirus on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, a toddler who attends a Tel Aviv daycare was diagnosed with the virus, sending 16 other toddlers into quarantine.

Well, seems like this concern has certainly been justified.
Just look at what's happened over the past week since this thread was started.
And it could be just the tip of the iceberg...

DrMom

Mon, Jun 01 2020, 2:28 am

Yes, one teacher in Jerusalem infected >100 kids at a singe school. It turned out he was actually teaching at two schools at once (in my city this is not allowed now; I thought it was a national rule. Of course, chuggim are opening, so that's sort of the same thing...) and infected some kids at the 2nd school as well.

And he was feeling sick and went to teach anyway. Punch

I am assuming these infections occurred during the first week back, when students were told it's too hot to wear masks, but go to class anyway. Banging head

This one guy accounts for a huge chunk of the recent outbreak.

Public transportation is also a hotspot, apparently. Bus drivers are vulnerable (not all buses were fitted with protective compartments for the drivers yet).

salt

Mon, Jun 01 2020, 2:42 am

Success10 wrote:

How did he infect that many people? Did he share a smoothie with each and every one?

I heard a pupil from the school being interviewed on the radio. He admitted the kids hardly wore masks and didn't keep distance.

All I can say is, lucky it wasn't a yeshiva or a beit yaakov school. Oh the uproar it would have caused...
Here, because it's a left wing secular school, the media is just blaming the government for opening up schools too early.

DrMom

Mon, Jun 01 2020, 2:49 am

salt wrote:

Did the infection occur during the week of the sharav? If so, I think having kids come to school without masks was a mistake, and the blame should be at least on the govt for officially allowing this. Do you disagree?

I can't blame a teacher for not wearing a mask if the Ministry of Ed and Ministry of Health explicitly told him it was not necessary.

I;d like to know why Litzman was pilloried by the media while the current Min of Health seems to be blameless.

salt

Mon, Jun 01 2020, 2:53 am

DrMom wrote:

I agree, that boiling hot week where all the schools went back, and allowing no masks, was a mistake.
But I just can't help believing that if it was a religious teacher coming to school feeling sick, and kids not even trying to distance (it was a student in the school who said this), it would have been reported differently.

etky

Mon, Jun 01 2020, 3:09 am

It's not just in the Gymnasia now and it's also not clear that the Gymnasia was the sole source of the contagion or that one teacher caused the outbreak.
It's all over the state secular school system in Jerusalem - in both elementary and high schools - and in some state-religious schools as well.
And there are other areas like Be'er Sheva and Bat Yam that are current hot spots but Jerusalem is definitely the epicenter of the current outbreak.
The theory is that not wearing the masks during the heat wave accelerated the spread of the virus but they are not sure that this happened davka during school hours.
For example, a student at Hartman high school (DL) caught it from a kid from the Gymnasia while playing basketball in the afternoon.
And a sports instructor at Beit Hano'ar - where kids from all over the southern part of the city attend extra-curricular activities was diagnosed yesterday.

etky

Mon, Jun 01 2020, 3:20 am

DrMom wrote:

Totally. They should have dismissed school during the peak of the heat wave under the assumption that wearing the masks at school for the entire day was impossible.
Abandoning the masks and keeping schools open was a terrible mistake made by a novice minister who - at least this is how it seemed to me - was acting with bluster in order to create an impression that he was 'taking charge' during his first week at the job.
Why someone with more experience didn't object is a mystery to me.

LovesHashem

Mon, Jun 01 2020, 3:26 am

The school was aware he had corona. They told the children it was all fine and they didn’t need to isolate I read in a interview with one of the students. That school was incredibly irresponsible and didn’t do anything misrad habriut said to do. They ignored a problem hoping it to go away. I think the principal is going to be in hot water over this.

Also where I live many teachers teach in multiple high schools. It’s not illegal.

DrMom

Mon, Jun 01 2020, 3:28 am

LovesHashem wrote:

Can you post that source? That seems really incredible.