by Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths
(I see a signature but not a copyright on this illustration - someone let me know if I'm wrong.)
A reader emailed, "because Amazon, Walmart and Target have sold out of toilet paper, tissues and medicine - this quarantine is looking more and more serious..."
Various officials and experts in the U.S. are screaming about the need to make major adjustments to prevent Medical System Overload. Israel is making TWICE DAILY real time adjustments, measuring impact and adjusting again.
This is annoying to keep perspective of what's going on, and planning life actions to handle the changes. But it is allowing the Israeli system to adjust what's working, what's not, and try to handle an exponential growth curve BEFORE it gets out of control.
Israel case increase - up to 109, one being a 6 month old.
With Shabbat (the Sabbath) coming Friday night, the Jewish religious communities in Israel are struggling with how seriously to take the government direction to limit groupings to 100, which will prevent medium sized and larger synagogues from operating normally.
On a personal basis, does one focus on the spiritual protection of prayer and ones responsibilities to service to G-d, or on following society's instructions as well as the religious obligation to guard ones health? On a communal basis, do community leaders (the rabbis, the gabbaim, the askanim) upset generations of focused religious practice - practices which (in Israel) have even continued in times of war and sometimes literally under fire, and following a decade of pronouncements that Torah learning and prayer protect, or do they listen to the instructions of the government, the health authorities, and the national rabbinute and take the steps necessary to maximize the physical safety and physical protection of their congregations?
Complicating the discussion: the media and experts spent a serious amount of time downplaying the virus, "it's just a flu", "the flu kills more people", "everyone should go about their normal business and normal buying patterns" - any many people including community leaders bought that message and haven't gotten the new one: "LOOK AT ITALY, THIS DISEASE CAN CAUSE THE COLLAPSE OF THE MEDICAL SYSTEM, MASS DEATH AND BREAKDOWN OF SOCIETAL FUNCTIONING"
"(link) Three weeks ago, Italy barely had a coronavirus problem. Back then, when there were just three confirmed cases, shops and cafes were open, tourists flowed in and out of the country’s magnificent holiday destinations, and quarantines were relegated to history: 14th-century Venice during the Black Death.
Now, Italy has the highest number of reported Covid-19 cases and deaths outside China: more than 12,000 and 800, respectively, as of March 11."
So here's Israel's latest moves:
We will fight it in the streets, we will fight it in the cities, we will fight it on the beaches, we will never surrender -- new disinfectant equipped M16's will be deployed throughout Israel ... (NOT - this is a joke)
- Schools from 4th grade through University to close physical classrooms until after the Passover holiday (April 16). Schools with the capability should use remote learning.
Exceptions (not closing) for special education facilities, boarding schools, at-risk youth schools, preschools.
- If your children are at home, DO NOT have the grandparents babysit, due to the virus risk to the elderly.
- El Al (Israeli national airline) will discontinue flights world-wide except for to the U.S., Canada, England, France and South Africa.
- No foreign national can enter Israel through any border without having registered in advance with a local embassy or consulate where (in Israel) they will be observing their required 14 day quarantine.
- Chief (Ashkenazi) Rabbi of Israel rules that no religious laws take precedence over instructions from the Health Ministry. Synagogues should break their services into multiple times to stay within the 100 person limit.
- In Israeli politics, Netanyahu called on the opposition to join him and form an immediate united emergency government to deal with the virus crisis. It will be interesting to see if they can overcome politics and their intense desire to destroy Netanyahu in the interest of keeping their citizens alive.
- Israeli banks have announced a 3 month suspension of mortgage payments.
- Our local city has announced that city services will no longer be provided in person, only digitally, and the city will operate in crisis management mode - no enforcement actions will occur due to delays in submitting forms.
And here's a report from Chabad in Italy in the infection zone:
I am writing to you from Bergamo, Italy, at the heart of the coronavirus crisis. The news media in the US has not captured the severity of what is happening here. I am writing this post because each of you, today, not the government, not the school district, not the mayor, each individual citizen has the chance, today to take actions that will deter the Italian situation from becoming your own country's reality. The only way to stop this virus is to limit contagion. And the only way to limit contagion is for millions of people to change their behavior today.
If you are in Europe or the US you are weeks away from where we are today in Italy.
I can hear you now. “It's just a flu. It only affects old people with preconditions”
There are 2 reasons why Coronavirus has brought Italy to it's knees. First it is a flu is devastating when people get really sick they need weeks of ICU – and, second, because of how fast and effectively it spreads. There is 2 week incubation period and many who have it never show symptoms.
When (Italian) Prime Minister Conte announced last night that the entire country, 60 million people, would go on lock down, the line that struck me most was “there is no more time.” Because to be clear, this national lock down, is a hail mary. What he means is that if the numbers of contagion do not start to go down, the system, Italy, will collapse.
Why? Today the ICUs in Lombardy are at capacity – more than capacity. They have begun to put ICU units in the hallways. If the numbers do not go down, the growth rate of contagion tells us that there will be thousands of people who in a matter of a week? two weeks? who will need care. What will happen when there are 100, or a 1000 people who need the hospital and only a few ICU places left?
On Monday a doctor wrote in the paper that they have begun to have to decide who lives and who dies when the patients show up in the emergency room, like what is done in war. This will only get worse.
There are a finite number of doctors, nurses, medical staff and they are getting the virus. They have also been working non-stop, non-stop for days and days. What happens when the doctors, nurses and medical staff are simply not able to care for the patients, when they are not there?
And finally for those who say that this is just something that happens to old people, starting yesterday the hospitals are reporting that younger and younger patients – 40, 45, 18, are coming in for treatment.
You have a chance to make a difference and stop the spread in your country. Push for the entire office to work at home today, cancel birthday parties, and other gatherings, stay home as much as you can. If you have a fever, any fever, stay home. Push for school closures, now. Anything you can do to stop the spread, because it is spreading in your communities – there is a two week incubation period – and if you do these things now you can buy your medical system time.
And for those who say it is not possible to close the schools, and do all these other things, locking down Italy was beyond anyone's imagination a week ago.
Soon you will not have a choice, so do what you can now.
---
May Hashem have mercy and remove this plague.
(I see a signature but not a copyright on this illustration - someone let me know if I'm wrong.)
A reader emailed, "because Amazon, Walmart and Target have sold out of toilet paper, tissues and medicine - this quarantine is looking more and more serious..."
Various officials and experts in the U.S. are screaming about the need to make major adjustments to prevent Medical System Overload. Israel is making TWICE DAILY real time adjustments, measuring impact and adjusting again.
This is annoying to keep perspective of what's going on, and planning life actions to handle the changes. But it is allowing the Israeli system to adjust what's working, what's not, and try to handle an exponential growth curve BEFORE it gets out of control.
Israel case increase - up to 109, one being a 6 month old.
With Shabbat (the Sabbath) coming Friday night, the Jewish religious communities in Israel are struggling with how seriously to take the government direction to limit groupings to 100, which will prevent medium sized and larger synagogues from operating normally.
On a personal basis, does one focus on the spiritual protection of prayer and ones responsibilities to service to G-d, or on following society's instructions as well as the religious obligation to guard ones health? On a communal basis, do community leaders (the rabbis, the gabbaim, the askanim) upset generations of focused religious practice - practices which (in Israel) have even continued in times of war and sometimes literally under fire, and following a decade of pronouncements that Torah learning and prayer protect, or do they listen to the instructions of the government, the health authorities, and the national rabbinute and take the steps necessary to maximize the physical safety and physical protection of their congregations?
Complicating the discussion: the media and experts spent a serious amount of time downplaying the virus, "it's just a flu", "the flu kills more people", "everyone should go about their normal business and normal buying patterns" - any many people including community leaders bought that message and haven't gotten the new one: "LOOK AT ITALY, THIS DISEASE CAN CAUSE THE COLLAPSE OF THE MEDICAL SYSTEM, MASS DEATH AND BREAKDOWN OF SOCIETAL FUNCTIONING"
"(link) Three weeks ago, Italy barely had a coronavirus problem. Back then, when there were just three confirmed cases, shops and cafes were open, tourists flowed in and out of the country’s magnificent holiday destinations, and quarantines were relegated to history: 14th-century Venice during the Black Death.
Now, Italy has the highest number of reported Covid-19 cases and deaths outside China: more than 12,000 and 800, respectively, as of March 11."
So here's Israel's latest moves:
We will fight it in the streets, we will fight it in the cities, we will fight it on the beaches, we will never surrender -- new disinfectant equipped M16's will be deployed throughout Israel ... (NOT - this is a joke)
- Schools from 4th grade through University to close physical classrooms until after the Passover holiday (April 16). Schools with the capability should use remote learning.
Exceptions (not closing) for special education facilities, boarding schools, at-risk youth schools, preschools.
- If your children are at home, DO NOT have the grandparents babysit, due to the virus risk to the elderly.
- El Al (Israeli national airline) will discontinue flights world-wide except for to the U.S., Canada, England, France and South Africa.
- No foreign national can enter Israel through any border without having registered in advance with a local embassy or consulate where (in Israel) they will be observing their required 14 day quarantine.
- Chief (Ashkenazi) Rabbi of Israel rules that no religious laws take precedence over instructions from the Health Ministry. Synagogues should break their services into multiple times to stay within the 100 person limit.
- In Israeli politics, Netanyahu called on the opposition to join him and form an immediate united emergency government to deal with the virus crisis. It will be interesting to see if they can overcome politics and their intense desire to destroy Netanyahu in the interest of keeping their citizens alive.
- Israeli banks have announced a 3 month suspension of mortgage payments.
- Our local city has announced that city services will no longer be provided in person, only digitally, and the city will operate in crisis management mode - no enforcement actions will occur due to delays in submitting forms.
And here's a report from Chabad in Italy in the infection zone:
I am writing to you from Bergamo, Italy, at the heart of the coronavirus crisis. The news media in the US has not captured the severity of what is happening here. I am writing this post because each of you, today, not the government, not the school district, not the mayor, each individual citizen has the chance, today to take actions that will deter the Italian situation from becoming your own country's reality. The only way to stop this virus is to limit contagion. And the only way to limit contagion is for millions of people to change their behavior today.
If you are in Europe or the US you are weeks away from where we are today in Italy.
I can hear you now. “It's just a flu. It only affects old people with preconditions”
There are 2 reasons why Coronavirus has brought Italy to it's knees. First it is a flu is devastating when people get really sick they need weeks of ICU – and, second, because of how fast and effectively it spreads. There is 2 week incubation period and many who have it never show symptoms.
When (Italian) Prime Minister Conte announced last night that the entire country, 60 million people, would go on lock down, the line that struck me most was “there is no more time.” Because to be clear, this national lock down, is a hail mary. What he means is that if the numbers of contagion do not start to go down, the system, Italy, will collapse.
Why? Today the ICUs in Lombardy are at capacity – more than capacity. They have begun to put ICU units in the hallways. If the numbers do not go down, the growth rate of contagion tells us that there will be thousands of people who in a matter of a week? two weeks? who will need care. What will happen when there are 100, or a 1000 people who need the hospital and only a few ICU places left?
On Monday a doctor wrote in the paper that they have begun to have to decide who lives and who dies when the patients show up in the emergency room, like what is done in war. This will only get worse.
There are a finite number of doctors, nurses, medical staff and they are getting the virus. They have also been working non-stop, non-stop for days and days. What happens when the doctors, nurses and medical staff are simply not able to care for the patients, when they are not there?
And finally for those who say that this is just something that happens to old people, starting yesterday the hospitals are reporting that younger and younger patients – 40, 45, 18, are coming in for treatment.
You have a chance to make a difference and stop the spread in your country. Push for the entire office to work at home today, cancel birthday parties, and other gatherings, stay home as much as you can. If you have a fever, any fever, stay home. Push for school closures, now. Anything you can do to stop the spread, because it is spreading in your communities – there is a two week incubation period – and if you do these things now you can buy your medical system time.
And for those who say it is not possible to close the schools, and do all these other things, locking down Italy was beyond anyone's imagination a week ago.
Soon you will not have a choice, so do what you can now.
---
May Hashem have mercy and remove this plague.
