A survey carried out by the IDF’s Home Front Command showing that only 30% of the Israeli public would adhere to a lockdown over the Yamim Tovim was presented to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett this week. According to a Channel 12 News report, the survey caused Bennett to dismiss a lockdown as a measure to reduce the surging morbidity and instead focus on expanding the vaccine campaign. Bennett also ordered the Home Front Command’s Alon Command Center to expand its performance of epidemiological investigations and coronavirus tests. The report added that Bennett instructed medical personnel to prepare within a week to provide at-home treatment to patients evacuated from hospitals to their homes in order to lessen the burden on overcrowded hospital wards.

HaGaon HaRav Ben-Tzion Motzafi, a leading Sephardi Posek and Rosh Yeshivah in Eretz Yisrael, slammed the Bennett-Lapid’s government mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis. One of HaRav Motzafi’s talmidim wrote to him on Wednesday, telling him that his grandfather was a bit worried about getting the third vaccine.

Israel’s government on Wednesday advanced a raft of new coronavirus restrictions, including sweeping implementation of a digital vaccine passport and tighter restrictions on mass gatherings, as the country struggles with skyrocketing new infections. The country that had appeared to put the coronavirus pandemic behind it a few months ago after a world-leading vaccine drive is now re-imposing regulations in a bid to clamp back down on infections. The Cabinet gave its approval for the tighter measures — including limitations on people gathering indoors and restricting entry to venues and restaurants to “Green Pass” holders — as new cases of the highly infectious delta variant of the coronavirus surge despite widespread vaccination against COVID-19.

Israeli health officials sounded an alarm this week, warning Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that there could be thousands of coronavirus patients requiring hospitalization within weeks. In a meeting on Tuesday evening, senior medical experts told Bennett that they expect about 4,800 coronavirus patients to be hospitalized by September 10, with about half requiring acute care, a scenario that would severely strain Israel’s medical system. Directors of hospital internal medicine wards told Health Ministry Director Nachman Ash on Wednesday that they are already dealing with overcrowding and fear their beds will be moved to coronavirus wards.

Israel’s Education Ministry said that nearly 45% of Chareidi students are exempt from quarantine according to preliminary results of serological tests performed in Charedi schools this week. Over 20% of Chareidi students who were tested were found to have antibodies against COVID. In addition, 24% of students were confirmed to have recovered from COVID or have been fully vaccinated. The serological testing will be expanded to all schools when they reopen on September 1 and students who have antibodies will be granted a Green Pass exempting them from quarantine if a classmate is diagnosed with COVID.

In a shocking and unprecedented secret agreement, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett demanded that hospitals commit to refraining from reporting or warning the media about hospital insufficiency regarding the treatment of coronavirus and other patients in critical condition, regardless of the true situation in hospitals and the level of patient care, Yisrael Hayom reported on Thursday. The report comes as senior health officials predict 5,000 coronavirus patients requiring hospitalization within weeks, with many officials slamming the government for its inadequate response to the situation and callous view of “inevitable” deaths from the pandemic.  Health Ministry Director-General Prof.

Some of the ministers in the Bennett-Lapid government are privately pointing fingers and expressing sharp criticism of the coalition’s coronavirus management in the wake of the continuing surge of coronavirus cases and seriously ill virus patients, along with the burgeoning death toll since the beginning of August, Yisrael Hayom reported on Wednesday. “We fell down on the job. We made decisions too late,” ministers are saying in closed discussions. Some of them place the blame on Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, others on Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton, and others on the entire coronavirus cabinet. One minister says that the government members are disconnected from the details of the coronavirus situation because decisions aren’t presented to the government.

COVID-19 cases have filled so many Florida hospital beds that ambulance services and fire departments are straining to respond to emergencies. In St. Petersburg, some patients wait inside ambulances for up to an hour before hospitals can admit them — a process that usually takes about 15 minutes, Pinellas County Administrator Barry Burton said. While ambulances sit outside emergency rooms, they are essentially off the grid. “They’re not available to take another call, which forces the fire department on scene at an accident or something to take that transport. That’s caused quite a backlog for the system,” Burton said. He stressed that the most serious cases, like heart attacks and strokes, still get prompt attention in emergency rooms.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says people are rushing to get a third vaccine shot as protection from the surging delta variant of the coronavirus. Bennett pointed to government statistics Sunday showing that more than 420,000 Israelis older than 60 have received a booster shot, more than a third of the total targeted population. Bennett said the number is expected to grow to half a million people by the end of the day. The prime minister spoke after a weekly Cabinet meeting. Israel is seeing a rising number of people hospitalized with COVID-19, almost all of them infected with the highly contagious delta variant. The government has reinstituted its mask mandate for indoor settings and is weighing more restrictions.

Unvaccinated Israelis will not be allowed to enter the city of Hadera, the municipality announced on Thursday. The announcement stated that in order to decrease the number of daily coronavirus cases in the city, non-residents traveling to Hadera via public transportation will only be allowed to enter the city if they present a “green pass” with proof of vaccination or recovery. Israelis who have not been vaccinated or recovered from the coronavirus can only enter the city with a current negative coronavirus test. The new regulation went into effect immediately and is being enforced at bus stops near popular tourist attractions in the city such as the beach and amusement park.