Are 2021 elections a COVID-19 death sentence for 2,021 Israelis?

Since their swearing-in ceremony, Netanyahu and Gantz have catastrophically handled the coronavirus and disastrously eroded public trust.

By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
Updated: DECEMBER 22, 2020 20:32
A medic in a protective suit votes in a special polling station set up by Israel's election committee so Israelis under home-quarantine, such as those who have recently travelled back to Israel from coronavirus hot spots can vote in Israel's national election, in Ashkelon, Israel March 2, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)
A medic in a protective suit votes in a special polling station set up by Israel's election committee so Israelis under home-quarantine, such as those who have recently travelled back to Israel from coronavirus hot spots can vote in Israel's national election, in Ashkelon, Israel March 2, 2020
(photo credit: REUTERS/AMIR COHEN)
A 2021 election could mean another 2,021 COVID-19 deaths in Israel before the country ever gets to the voting booth.
The so-called unity government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz was formed to manage the coronavirus crisis. But since their swearing-in ceremony, the prime ministers have catastrophically handled the disease and disastrously eroded public trust and wellbeing.
A survey released Tuesday by the Central Bureau of Statistics found that 21% of total deaths in October were from COVID-19 and that 10.7% more people died that month than expected.
It showed that trust in the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis declined from 69% to 47% between May and November.
Moreover, the number of people reporting that they experience depression jumped from 16% in April to 19% in November.
And these statistics are from when our politicians were governing as part of a coalition.
Now that Netanyahu, Gantz and their colleagues are heading to elections, their concerns will be more than ever what is popular policy – not best practices – when it comes to handling the coronavirus crisis. That can only mean that people’s lives will be in danger.
The government in general does not have a cohesive policy for handling the pandemic.
Rather it moves between three states: panic, complacency and politics.
When the rate of infection is high, the ministers panic and talk about night curfews and closures, regardless of recommendations by health and economic professionals. When the numbers are low, they yield to pressures and populism, failing to enforce their own restrictions.
Rather than preparing a strategy for deciding how to move forward with the pandemic and its aftermath, the government is busy playing petty politics.
A fourth election will intensify the government’s zigzagging and its inability to make decisions as its members vie for votes.
What politician, up for reelection, would want to enforce new constraints or unpopular restrictions?
But now, right now when a new election is being called, is exactly when those regulations are needed more than ever. Health experts nearly unanimously agree that action – some action and fast action – is needed to reduce irreparable damage and death later.
A lack of action will lead to an increase in the number of deceased and severely ill and will once again put pressure on the health system.
According to Prof. Eli Waxman of the Weizmann Institute of Science, who has been advising the National Security Council since the first wave, if no action is taken, then in three weeks the country could have as many as 10,000 new cases per day, which is very dangerous.
Between the beginning of September and the end of October, Israel saw around 1,800 people die from coronavirus. Waxman predicted that the numbers will be even worse this time around – more deaths and, of course, three times as many patients in serious condition.
Serious patients include those who are intubated, many who suffer from long-term systemic damage.
The vaccine is in Israel, Waxman said, but it will not be effective in time to prevent the current eruption.
If the ministers wait until the hospitals raise a red flag, it is already too late – the country learned that the last time.
The role of leadership is to build a plan, explain it to the public and urge them to follow it by example.
For too long, Israel has not had leadership. Rather, it has had figureheads that make decisions based on pressure rather than professionalism. The public has well learned that this is not the way to manage a pandemic.
Now that the country is going to yet another round of elections, the public is about to learn how much worse it can be.