Coronavirus patients in Sderot will receive 'quarantine kits' for free

During the pilot, the municipality will monitor the households to examine the kit's efficiency in preventing new infections among family members.

Production line at Sion Medical Ltd. for producing protective medical gear. From left to right: Sion Medical CEO Daniel Lev, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein and Sderot mayor Alon Davidi. (photo credit: SDEROT MUNICIPALITY)
Production line at Sion Medical Ltd. for producing protective medical gear. From left to right: Sion Medical CEO Daniel Lev, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein and Sderot mayor Alon Davidi.
(photo credit: SDEROT MUNICIPALITY)
Coronavirus patients in Sderot will receive "quarantine kits" that include protective gear and useful information for coping with the disease and preventing more infections.
A report by the Knesset's Research and Information Center from August found that the 65% of Israel's coronavirus patients whose source of infection is known, contracted the virus in the place that they least expected it: at home.
The report indicated that the most likely way of contracting the virus was not in gyms, beaches or protests, but rather by being exposed to it through sick family members.
And that is what Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi's new initiative is meant to address.  
In its first stage, the pilot will target 50 residents of Sderot who recently entered quarantine after being diagnosed as active patients. They will receive a kit including protective gear and useful information that will assist in cutting the infection chain inside households.
During the pilot, the municipality will monitor the households to examine the kit's efficiency in preventing new infections among family members.
The protective gear included in the kit is produced entirely by the local factory Sion Medical, which specializes in producing medical equipment.
"I was very impressed by the factory's new production lines and I'm happy that the factory's management agreed to undertake my offer and distribute the kits to patients in Sderot free of charge," Davidi said.
"I hope the country adopts our model so that every family with an active patient eventually receives the kit," he added.
"For six months we've been told how we need to behave outside [wearing masks, keeping clean, social distancing]... with marking red and green areas, preventing gatherings and more... But we understood that severing the infection chain must begin, before anywhere else, at home, by protecting the family unit," said Arik Benado, Sion Medical's vice president of sales and marketing.