Coronavirus burning through haredi, Arab areas of Jerusalem

Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) areas of Jerusalem are becoming hot spots for the coronavirus, reminiscent of the first wave, a new report shows. According to a report released Friday by the Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center, which is overseen by the IDF Intelligence Corps in cooperation with the Health Ministry, most of the new infections in Jerusalem in the past week are concentrated in haredi neighborhoods. Some 37% of Jerusalem's coronavirus patients are in the following neighborhoods: Ramot, Kiryat Sanz-Belz, Geula, Neve Yaakov, Mea She'arim, Tel Arza, Mahanayim, Ramot Bet, Har Nof, Habukharim, Makor Baruch, Kiryat Mattersdorf, Givat Hamivtar and Sanhedria Murhevet. Until now, around 5% of people tested for coronavirus in the holy city tested positive. Last week, that number jumped to 7.4%. However, in haredi neighborhoods, the average is 17%. Moreover, the number of infected people is doubling every four days; nationally, the number is doubling every seven days. Of the 160 Jeursalemites diagnosed with coronavirus on July 1, 72 (45%) of them were from haredi neighborhoods. Another 26% were from Arab-Israeli neighborhoods, as there is also an increase in infection in east Jerusalem, the report said. The number of active patients in east Jerusalem was 148 on Friday, 15% of all new patients in the city. Strikingly, epidemiological investigations revealed that 72% of cases were infected within their nuclear families – people living in the same home. Other places in which people caught the virus: 14% at institutions of higher education; 4% from colleagues at work; 4% from at an event or conference; 2% from friends or acquaintances; and 2% at a medical establishment. The rest are still unknown. The report offers several recommendations for the Health Ministry, including relaunching a campaign to better explain the second wave of the virus to these sectors and stepping up enforcement of the Health Ministry directives. Also, re-opening more state-run “coronavirus hotels” and moving sick people or those who need to be in isolation into these facilities should also be weighed, the report recommends.

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