Gamzu: Stiff restrictions for High Holidays if covid-19 figs don’t improve
Unless the infection level comes down substantially, the coronavirus director Prof. Ronni Gamzu’s proposes tough restrictions for the High Holidays in the latter half of September. This would be the lesser evil compared with a total lockdown, since most businesses and all schools are closed – off and on – for Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah and Succot. Some ministers argue that it would be a death blow to the tourist and hotel sectors for which this is their high season. Others propose an immediate total lockdown without delay. The general consensus is that while the new infection rate of roughly 2,000 a day in July slowed this month to around 1,600, and serious cases have dipped, the figures are still too high to sustain. Gamzu therefore advises the government to hold crowding down during the festivals by closing shopping malls and restaurants and restricting family occasions to the closest relatives.