i24 News – Israel’s Covid czar Salman Zarka said today that health officials plan on meeting in the coming days to consider whether to reimpose the indoor mask mandate. He also urged the public to continue wearing masks indoors.
Zarka said during a video press briefing that the increase in patients seriously ill with Covid makes indoor masking very important.
“As a professional I believe it is obligatory to return to wearing masks indoors, on public transport and at large events, especially when it doesn’t harm economic activity and routine life. This step will be discussed in the coming days,” he said, according to Haaretz.
Israel saw a wave of Covid infections, the daily caseload rising to over 12,000 and the number of seriously ill patients tripling to over 370.
Zarka stated that if the number of seriously ill and hospitalized patients continues to rise, the mask mandate will be necessary, noting he believes it should already be mandatory.
Israel ended its indoor face mask requirement in April after two years of imposing the mandate, except for two weeks in 2021.
The Covid czar said that a variant of omicron drives the sixth wave of infections.
“This variant is more infectious; it is very infectious,” Zarka said, according to The Times of Israel.
He said those over 60 “must wear masks” in enclosed spaces and cautioned the general public to be careful when visiting the elderly, advising them to take an antigen test before visits, noting that 90 percent of the hospitalized cases were in that age group.
Health Ministry figures show that 13,901 new Covid patients were diagnosed a day earlier, the highest figure since February 17.
Yes, definitely. They must reinstall the plastic partitions by the bima as well. The plastic partitions literally saved Yiddishe nishamos.
Who would have believed that the most anti religious government in Israeli history would be the one that went even further than the Muslims and forced not only women but also men to go around with covered faces…
Shouldn’t the Death Minister advise double or triple masks according to the amount of toxic liquid injected in the person? 2 injections 2 masks; 3 injections 3 masks; no injections no masks.