Health Officials to Recommend Delaying of Scrapping Kids Quarantine

On Wednesday, health officials were set for a meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in order to recommend delaying a planned end for the mandatory quarantine for kids who are exposed to any coronavirus patients. The move had been expected to be put into effect from Thursday. However, the matter was discussed internally by the Health Ministry on Wednesday, but it hadn’t made a formal announcement regarding its stance. These reports came as the Pediatricians’ Association head said that the planned scrapping of the quarantine was a ‘red flag’. Dr. Zachi Grossman said that the number of kids in serious condition would double within four days and they were quite apprehensive about the isolation plan. 

He added that it wasn’t too late to change it and that they don’t recommend canceling quarantine for the kids. This statement from Grossman was a sharp reversal from the opinion he had stated publicly. He had said on Tuesday that while hospitalizations had increased, along with pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS), it was not such a significant number for justifying canceling the quarantine plan for kids. Initially, health experts had been in full support of ending the precautionary quarantine for children who are exposed to confirm COVID-19 patients. 

This had been disclosed last week by Yifat Shasha-Biton, the Education Minister, Nitzan Horowitz, the Health Minister, and the premier, Naftali Bennett. However, there has been an increase in PIMS cases in other countries in this Omicron wave. Therefore, this prompted health officials to decide that if there was a similar rise in Israel, they could reinstate quarantine for children, even after the end planned on Thursday. While most cases of coronavirus in children are mild, PIMS can result in hospitalization and death. This is a rare condition that shows up about 30 to 45 days after a child has recovered from the coronavirus. 

This is a new disease, which is related to the coronavirus. According to a study conducted last year, the symptoms were considered extremely complex, including fever, inflammation, and cardiovascular and gastrointestinal problems. Even though the exact causes remain unclear, it appears that the immune system becomes over-activated and this causes the body to attack itself. The new plan indicates that children will have to take two antigen tests on Sundays and Wednesdays in a week before being allowed to enter educational institutions. As long as they test negative, they will be permitted to enter.

Those who test positive will have to isolate until they can present a negative test. The purpose of this plan is to help keep the children in school in the current wave, which has resulted in a record number of cases daily. Meanwhile, there has been an increase in the number of seriously ill patients, as it has climbed to 888. The Health Ministry figures also show that a number of medical staff, including doctors and nurses, have also tested positive. On Wednesday, another lawmaker tested positive for COVID-19, who is Nir Barkat, the Likud MK. He said that he was feeling well and didn’t have any symptoms.