Health Ministry directives: Limit gatherings at event halls, synagogues
“We are in the beginning of the second coronavirus wave,” the Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said.
By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMANHealth Minister Yuli Edelstein speaks during a press conference about the coronavirus COVID-19, at the Health Ministry in Jerusalem on June 28, 2020.(photo credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein laid out his ministry’s recommendations for stopping the spread of the coronavirus in Israeli: limiting attendance at religious events, how many people pray together at synagogues, and how many people gather in general; asking universities to administer final exams remotely; and requiring public sectors workers to do their jobs from home whenever possible.“We are in the beginning of the second coronavirus wave,” Edelstein said at an evening press conference. “From today, Sunday, I decided not to be the most right-wing person and to make all the decisions considering both the health and economic needs of the country. I worked in conjunction with all the relevant ministers to open the event halls, cultural events, public transportation and more. But I always emphasized that if we will not carefully maintain all the guidelines it will lead to things being closed.”He said that “not enough people listened” and even though he “led steps to increase enforcement” the virus has continued to spread.“Whoever does not listen to the directives causes damage not only to himself but everyone around him, and he could do damage to the entire economy,” Edelstein stressed.Now, he continued, the goal must be “to maximize benefit and minimize damage.”While he said that the coronavirus cabinet, which failed to make progress on any new regulations on Sunday, would reconvene on Monday to review his plan, he said that the goal is not to cause damage to event halls. He stressed that the Finance Ministry should compensate for their losses and that the demands of the owners of these halls are “justified.”"I want to emphasize that, at this stage, I do not intend to force anything on private businesses, but I do recommend that they take steps to protect their workers and clients," Edelstein said.“There has been a populist contest of who will do more to mock the need to be careful of the coronavirus,” he continued. “There were those who said we should not be worried about the numbers. There were those who accused me of creating hysteria. It is easier to create populist discourse to score points. It is easy, but dangerous."He said that he charged the ministers to come up with another plan if they did not accept his, not simply to criticize but to also offer alternatives."There is one thing I cannot accept. I hear those with the approach: ‘Why are you creating panic?’ ‘So, a number of elderly people will die.’“Anyone who even thinks this deep in his heart should think about his grandfather and grandmother being among these old people,” he concluded. “We dreamed of hugging our grandfather and grandmother, we dreamed of going abroad. It is not impossible. If we follow the directives and be careful these things that now seem like a faraway dream can become reality."
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