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Israelis cautiously take to streets as pace of corona infection slows

Imposition of tough closure conditions appears to be paying off as number of Israelis recovering from coronavirus exceeds number of new infections.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

The number of Israelis confirmed to be infected with coronavirus continued to rise on Tuesday. But over 24 hours, the number of recovered patients exceeded the number of new patients hospitalized with the virus.

Ministry of Health statistics released Tuesday morning showed that in the past day, 170 more Israelis tested positive for infection, bringing the total infected with coronavirus to 13,883.

However, in the same 24-hour period, 481 people who had been infected were declared recovered, bringing the total number of those overcoming the disease to 4,353.

The death toll rose by five to 182 victims. One of the dead was identified as Rabbi Chaim Aharon Torchin, 48, head of the Ohr Yitzhak yeshiva in Bnei Brak and a father of 14 who had no preexisting medical conditions.

A total of 521 Israelis are hospitalized with the virus, 142 listed in serious condition. One-hundred and thirteen are on respirators, a drop of 0.9 percent over the past 24 hours.

In Tel Aviv, a 22-year-old man from Ashdod with no background of serious illness was taken off a respirator and was breathing on his own after being in critical condition for the past month, Israel’s Kan pubic broadcaster reported. Afik Suissa regained consciousness last week, and doctors at Icholov Hospital said he was still not out of danger, but it was an important development.

Israel continues to allow looser restrictions. In two weeks it will reassess depending on the situation.

Tens of thousands of students in special education will start returning to school this week, with special education schools and kindergartens opening on Tuesday and some students in public schools beginning classes on Wednesday, the education ministry announced.

With public transportation limited and most Israelis still restricted to within 100 meters of their homes, schools and parents were scrambling to make arrangements.

Teachers contacted families to get their agreement to send their children to class and work out transportation issues.

Health guidelines are restricting classes to a maximum of three students who have to maintain the two-meter (six-foot) social distance guideline, forcing teachers to juggle class lists in order to rotate the students during the week so that all students will get classroom time.