Israel’s Health Ministry expanded its COVID booster shot drive to Israelis age 30 and above on Tuesday. Those who received the second vaccine dose at least five months previously are eligible for the third vaccine. Israel became the first country in the world last month to begin providing booster shots, initially only to those 60 and above. As of Tuesday, 1,575,898 Israelis have received booster shots. Israel’s coronavirus cases continue to surge, with almost 10,000 new cases confirmed on Tuesday morning – a seven-month high. However, early data on the effectiveness of the booster shots is promising and there has already been a decline in serious cases in those over 60.

A nurse who works at Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah spoke about the regrets of the unvaccinated in a recent interview with Channel 12 News. Almost all the seriously ill coronavirus patients at the hospital are unvaccinated. Miri Shem-Ad described the suffering of the patients who are struggling to breathe. “Their eyes bulge out of their sockets in their attempts to breathe in more oxygen but the oxygen won’t come in,” she said. “Every shift I lose an average of two patients.” Shem-Ad spoke about one patient who pleaded with her not to leave him alone as his death approached. “We struggled to save him for several days but he understood that he wouldn’t make it.

The Roshei Yeshivos of seven Chabad yeshivos ketanos in Israel sent a letter last week to parents of their talmidim recommending that they refrain from sending their sons to 770 in Crown Heights for the month of Tishrei. It should be noted that the Chabad sector in Israel has been grappling with a high infection rate in the community. The Rabbanim wrote that although the advantages of traveling to 770 for Tishrei are well-known and normally the yeshivos encourage it, this year the coronavirus situation is difficult in Israel and around the world.

Seven of Israel’s public hospitals, including Shaarei Tzedek and both Hadassah hospitals, stopped accepting coronavirus patients on Monday following a press conference on Sunday night, during which the hospital directors said their hospitals are collapsing and they intend to go on strike. Magen David Adom evacuated coronavirus patients to other hospitals in central Israel. On Sunday evening, the hospital directors said they will no longer accept new coronavirus patients beginning on Monday due to a lack of funds and staff, and on Wednesday they are going on strike, which means that the hospitals will operate in “Shabbos mode,” carrying out life-saving procedures only.

A conservative talk radio host from Tennessee who had been a vaccine skeptic until he was hospitalized from COVID-19 has died. He was 61. Nashville radio station SuperTalk 99.7 WTN confirmed Phil Valentine’s death in a tweet Saturday. Valentine had been a skeptic of coronavirus vaccines. But after he tested positive for COVID-19, and prior to his hospitalization, he told his listeners to consider, “If I get this COVID thing, do I have a chance of dying from it?” If so, he advised them to get vaccinated. He said he chose not to get vaccinated because he thought he probably wouldn’t die.

Health Ministry Director-General Prof. Nachman Ash signed an order on Wednesday allowing schools to vaccinate students during school hours, ending a political drama caused by Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton’s opposition to the measure. Shasha-Biton, who has a long history of opposing coronavirus regulations, refused to permit students to be vaccinated during school hours, saying it would be “criminal” to do so. However, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and other senior health officials asserted that vaccinating students in schools, where students have received other vaccinations in the past, is the most efficient way to stem the infection rate among the younger population.

A senior health expert said on Thursday that Israel’s coronavirus spread is currently one of the highest in the world, Ynet reported. The report comes as the Health Ministry confirmed over 600 seriously ill coronavirus patients on Thursday morning, the number that the Health Ministry earlier this month determined as the threshold for a lockdown. Since Israel’s hospital can only properly treat 1,200 seriously ill COVID patients, over 600 patients mean that the hospitals will be at maximum capacity within weeks. Prof. Ran Balicer, a senior medical advisor to the coronavirus cabinet, thinks that Israel can even reach 1,200 seriously ill patients within days as it is currently averaging about 100 new seriously ill COVID patients per day.

Posters went up in the more Chareidi sections of Beit Shemesh accusing United Hatzalah of transgressing the prohibition of yichud by training female EMTs to respond to medical emergencies. Extremist elements in the Chareidi community of Ramat Beit Shemesh posted the pashkvillim that declared that having women respond to emergencies, causes issues of Yichud (seclusion). The posters went on further to claim that female EMTs are committing a double sin both by being involved in Sherut Leumi (national service) and also by transgressing “Abizrahu D’Giluy Arayos”. United Hatzalah refutes these claims as they utilize volunteers over the age of 21 and does not have national service volunteers responding to emergencies as EMTs.

Israel’s coronavirus czar Salman Zarka said on Wednesday that Israel is at war with COVID as Israel grapples with a mounting fatality rate. Israel has confirmed over 120 coronavirus deaths in the past week alone, twice the number of deaths in the entire month of July and over 15 times the number of deaths in the month of June. Speaking at a hearing of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee regarding restrictions intended to quell the virus outbreak, Zarka said: “I think that we’re in a real war. We’re in a critical situation until erev Rosh Hashana or chalilah, the coronavirus will prevail and we’ll reach scenarios we don’t want, like during the first or second lockdown.” “I’m not trying to scare anyone, this is the data,” Zarka said.

Over 1 million Israelis have received a third COVID vaccine dose, the government announced on Monday. A few weeks ago Israel became the first country in the world to offer COVID booster shots, beginning with those over 60 and the immunocompromised. Last week, the shots became available to those over 50. Israel has now vaccinated over half of the 1.9 million Israelis over the age of 50 who received the first two vaccine doses. Preliminary Health Ministry data shows that Israelis who received the booster shot are 2.5 times more protected from COVID infection than those who received only the first two doses. “A very nice achievement but not enough,” Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said.