Figures using data from Johns Hopkins University show Israel averaged 199.3 new cases a day per 1 million residents in the week ending September 2; death toll climbs to 985
By TOI STAFF Today, 12:09 am
Medical workers at the Barzilay Hospital, in Ashkelon handle a coronavirus test sample on March 29, 2020 (Flash90)<
>
Israel now has the highest rate of daily new coronavirus infections per capita in the world, according to figures aired by Israeli television on Thursday.
The figures reported by Channels 12 and 13 cited data from Johns Hopkins University, showing Israel averaged 199.3 new cases a day per 1 million residents in the week ending on September 2.
Rounding out the top five on the list were Brazil (188 new cases per day per million people), Spain (178), the United States (129) and France (80).
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry updated its daily coronavirus figures Thursday evening, leading the death toll to climb to 985 after nine more Israelis succumbed to COVID-19 during the day.
National Bank of Canada’s Comparative data on new COVID-19 cases, September 2020.<
>
<
>
The ministry counted 2,991 new cases over the 24 hour period between 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and the same time Thursday.
Wednesday saw a total of 3,141 coronavirus cases diagnosed throughout the day, a new record high for the country.
Of the 24,825 active patients in the country, 417 were in serious condition with 117 of them on ventilators, the ministry said. There were 138 patients with moderate symptoms and the rest had either mild or no symptoms.
There have been 124,455 cases of coronavirus diagnosed in Israel since the start of the pandemic, and 98,645 people have recovered.
Over the course of Wednesday, 35,891 virus tests were carried out, the ministry said.
Ministers on Thursday decided to impose lockdown measures in over 30 “red” cities that have high coronavirus infection rates, starting from Monday.
“The full details, including a list of cities and the restrictions in them, will be formulated by Sunday,” a statement said.
National Bank of Canada’s Comparative data on new COVID-19 cases, September 2020.<
>
<
>
The restrictions under discussion for the 30 municipalities included banning entry and exit, keeping residents within 500 meters of their homes, stopping public transportation, and closing non-essential businesses and all schools save for daycare facilities and special education programs.
There is an urgent need to call out the new authoritarian push against the Israeli people by their government. The fact that the virus seems to have been weaponized by many national and subnational jurisdictions to upend normal life and revoke natural rights (the right to assemble, pray, earn a living and shop and go to school in a normal way – fully interacting with one’s fellows), does not absolve the government from having to answer for its bullying overbearing decrees, nor the press from its seemingly gleeful complicity. All the while, the statistical office of the state can find no change in the death rate between Jan and June 2020 from same-period averages over the past five years. What is being done to this society is cruel, economically, socially and psychologically/emotionally to virtually every sector of society. Unless the government course-corrects and normalizes quickly, I fear the country will go to ruin by every imaginable metric. Personally, I suspect bad actors are involved, foreign money corruption and Israel’s MSM.
Some questions? Why are schools and kids activities not functioning normally when children are almost 100% immune? Why isn’t the focus on protecting the elderly who clearly comprise the bulk of the at-risk? Why are major chunks of commerce and activity still shut down when there is no proof of widespread sickness? Are policy makers considering the dangerous long term effects of their heavy-handed “social tinkering?” What are the treatment protocols being used in Israel? If 140 people are currently on ventilators, how does this differ from the 5 year average? Isn’t there any “cause for pause” knowing that religious Jewish life and practice has not been curtailed on this scale since the time of the Shoah — and before that perhaps the Roman Empire conquest? These measures are also destroying the good-will many Arab-Israelis have for the country and he Jewish people.
Israel culture is in some ways more vulnerable to authoritarianism, even “soft totalitarianism” (if there is such a thing). Adapting to widespread terror threats and outbreaks of hot wars too, has
led Israelis to easily adjust to new security strategies, and more generally, to trust the government and media. Many are woefully unsuspecting when it comes to administrative over-reach and media malfeasance. And all with a near absence of strong libertarian or conservative media voices, some if which could be expected to provide meaningful push-back.
Every day that goes by is causing increasing misery, job losses, bankruptcies, poverty at the margins, depression, anxiety and stress. Someone must speak out.
This is sheer b____t. If you look at the page for Israel at the corona.help web site, recoveries from CV-2 outnumber deaths from CV-2 by more than 200 to 1. The percentage of “confirmed cases” that have resulted in death is at about the same ratio. That is true both for the entire year and for recent days in August.
The mortality rate from CV-2 in Israel, according to corona.help, is less than half of what it was in June.
The total number of “active” cases has increased only because the total number of tests in Israel has increased markedly in the past few weeks as the Ministry of Health tries desperately that there is still a problem that requires the lockdown of haredi communities. Obviously, if you conduct more tests, you will come up with more “confirmed” infections. But unless there is actually an increase in the number of people who are suffering the symptoms of the disease, all the “infected” statics indicate is that a large number of people have been infected with the virus but did not get sick–meaning either that they have acquired immunity to the virus, or that the “viral load” (the number of viral cells transmitted when they were infected) was not enough to make them sick.