|
 Health officials worry the launch of a new school year - with most
students attending in-person - will exacerbate the current wave
ahead of this month's Jewish holiday season, potentially forcing
another national lockdown.
New infections have soared since the emergence of the Delta variant,
reaching a pandemic-high 10,947 on Tuesday among Israel's 9.3
million population.
Under what he calls a "living with COVID" policy, Prime Minister
Naftali Bennett has pressed ahead with the new school year, in part
by ramping up vaccine booster shots and requiring testing for
students and unvaccinated instructors.
Visiting a school in Israel's Negev desert, Bennett said the testing
effort - some 2 million tests were conducted - was the largest in
Israel's history.
"After a year of Zooming, a difficult year of fading and staring in
front of the screens, I want to wish you, the students of Israel,
this one thing: May the year of screens be done away, and a year of
experiences begin," Bennett said.
But Bennett's government announced the new measures just days before
classes resumed, drawing criticism from parents who say they were
given little time to prepare.
Gal Altberg said she was excited to send her children, in 1st and
3rd grade, back to school but worried there might still be a
lockdown amid the rise in infections.
[to top of second column] |
 "The policy is still up in the air, the
government changes things around but we are
hoping for (the best), and we are hoping that
the vaccinations will help," Altberg, 41, said.
Students under 12 - the minimum age of eligibility for the vaccine -
must present their teachers with a parent's note confirming they
performed a rapid test at home and received a negative result.
Such testing is not required beyond the first day. But officials say
further testing could be done before or after the Jewish holidays,
where large family gatherings are common. The first of those
festivals is on Sept. 6 and the last on Sept. 30.
In areas with particularly high infection, schools where less than
70% of students are vaccinated are required to conduct remote
learning. Around 10% of Israeli students will attend school online
on Wednesday, according to the YNet news website.
(Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Alex Richardson)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content |
