A coronavirus cabinet meeting to be held in Israel was delayed until Wednesday. This was a direct result of ongoing debates between Education and Health ministries regarding the reopening of schools. Apparently, neither can reach an agreement about how to go about with them.
Originally, the meeting was supposed to convene on Tuesday evening, around 5 pm. An open-ended discussion was the agenda of the meeting, which would entail important talks about the next stage of the country’s exit strategy.
A source in the cabinet revealed that many people are of the opinion that Israel is not ready for the second stage. In fact, in their opinion, the second stage is nowhere in sight.
Just on Tuesday morning, 1,479 new cases of the coronavirus were reported by the Health Ministry. Nearly 3.5% of all those who underwent the test was diagnosed with the disease. 233 people were intubated while 636 patients were in serious condition.
The proposed next stage of the exit strategy was initially intended to be implemented when the country reports 1,000 or fewer cases in a day. Though the second stage is only a small step above the first, it consists of various avenues. The first relief of this stage would require grades one to four to resume educational activities in capsules. Moreover, beauty parlors, salons, and hairdressers would be allowed to operate again along with alternative medicine and several other related services.
However, all three ministries namely Finance, Health, and Education were very concerned about these plans.
The Finance Ministry believes that small businesses and street shops should be made a part of stage two, as they are in dire need of resumption of business activity.
On the other hand, the Education Ministry stated that they would need substantial funds and at least a month’s time to fully and properly prepare an effective capsule system.
The Health Ministry also added that the first through fourth grades will have to operate in capsules comprising of 18 students. They informed that these capsules would not be mixed under any circumstances. Additional details provided by the ministry entailed that only one primary teacher would be in charge of each capsule. Professional educators, for example, music and art teachers, however, will be allowed to float between various capsules.
Furthermore, various questions will be discussed in the meeting as per the outline. One of these is the decision regarding the school buses.
The Finance Ministry explicitly stated that they do not want schools to reopen because of the cost that capsules will require. They are also wary of the burden that will come to be on them if the number of patients of the coronavirus were to rise once again.