Pandemic emergency bill and the closure of schools due to new outbreak in Israel

Israel's Ministry of Justice said Friday that officials have drafted a softened version of a bill that would introduce emergency regulations to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. After criticism rained over certain clauses that gave the police forces excessive power, lawmakers will discuss the new proposal.

Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn wrote on Twitter on Friday: “This morning we finished a round of amendments on the emergency bill. Fighting the coronavirus, protecting democracy, the official said that according to the new bill, the police will not be able to enter homes without a court order, apparently reversing one of the most controversial provisions in the package.

As the number of new coronavirus cases increases, so does the number of closed schools due to students contracting it. According to the Ministry of Education, 92 schools and kindergartens have been closed to stop the spread of the virus, five more than yesterday.

According to Israeli News Live, the ministry said 304 students and teachers tested positive for COVID-19 during the new outbreak, with another 13,702 people in quarantine due to possible exposure to the virus.

The latest closings came two days after the government said it would leave schools open but would use specific closings anywhere a coronavirus case was discovered to help stop the recent spike in infections.

Although classes resumed after two months of closing, students and teachers must wear face masks and follow strict hygiene practices. Israeli schools began reopening in stages last month.

On May 3, the first day of school, only 60 percent of eligible students attended, a number that then increased before falling after the current increase in COVID-19 cases.

The Ministry of Health, which is reportedly pushing to reintroduce a national closure of schools, says the increasing number of infections among students is the main factor in the recent increase in cases in Israel.

The jump in new cases came after the daily infection rate dropped steadily for much of May, with Israel easing restrictions on movement, economic activity, and meetings that were established to contain the virus.

After new outbreaks of infection among schoolchildren, the government at an emergency meeting on Wednesday decided not to impose total quarantine for all schools, but to close only those where at least one case of infection will be detected.

“If we have 100 infected people that are not related to one epicenter of the outbreak per day, we will have to take a step back and re-introduce restrictions,” said Itamar Grotto, deputy head of the Ministry of Health.

As per Israel News Today, the government insists on continuing to ease restrictions: foci in schools will be interpreted as isolated, and there is no talk of a new “closure” of the entire school system, although experts from the Ministry of Health suggested suspending their studies in primary and secondary schools across the country.

The causes of school outbreaks are still to be determined, although some of them seem obvious. Restrictions in Israel were lifted in stages, and perhaps too hastily, writes the author of the Haaretz newspaper, public health professor Ran Balitser.