Preparing for Coronavirus in Israel

Health Ministy Sets Up Examination Booth in Ben Gurion To Check for Coronavirus YWN  *Netanyahu: Only a matter of time until coronavirus reaches Israel

Better Late Than Never, as they say.

The Health Ministry has set up a special booth in Ben Gurion Airport to check passengers entering the country who have been in China in the past 14 days, or those who came into contact with them, for symptoms related to the Coronavirus. The booth will be staffed by MDA personnel.

it would be very prudent to have all incoming people

 to Israel self-quarantine for 14 days in their home 

during which if no symptoms occur they are allowed 

back into society

The booth is the latest step taken by the Ministry to prevent the virus from coming to Israel. Bulletins distributed in the airport call on certain passengers to come to the booth where MDA staffers proceed to ask the passengers a series of questions and provide a checkup that has been predetermined by the Health Ministry.

soon Israel may need to close all entrants, 

by plane, truck, or by foot

Director of MDA Eli Bin participated in a discussion this morning led by the Prime Minister in which he stated: “MDA has answered the request of the Health Ministry, and has begun to staff the special booth in the airport 24-hours-a-day already over the course of the weekend. We are working under the instructions set forth by the Health Ministry and the rest of the government, all in order to prevent the spread of the virus.”

containment and isolation is the only way to curb outbreaks

*Israel cannot prevent coronavirus from entering the country, says PM, and can only delay the inevitable and minimize the damage. INN

MEANWHILE – What Country Did These People Come From?

Chinese students tour Judean Desert, Jordan Valley
Dozens of Chinese students visit Judean Desert and the Jordan Valley in tour given by pro-Israel 'Im Tirtzu' organization. YWN

When did they arrive, were they checked for fever and quarantined for 14 days. 

 there is no way to tell if anyone has the virus 

until symptoms appear during a 14 day period. 

And by then the person can infect hundreds of people,

and they inturn hundreds more

IS ISRAEL REALLY DOING ENOUGH FOR PREVENTION OF CORONAVIRUS?

“It is clear the virus is highly transmittable, and this assumption is based on the rapid rate of spread of this infection in China,” Leshem told The Wall Street Journal. “When there is a public-health uncertainty, you always want to slightly overreact to make sure that you don’t miss a critical issue. Once you learn a little bit more about the risk and the effective steps, then you can scale back.”
For now, he told the Post, he does not recommend scaling back. He said if any Israelis are considering not taking the necessary precautions, they should be worried.

“Anybody planning a trip to Asia and the countries where the virus has broken out is taking a risk, if not a big one at this point,” Leshem said. “China is a huge country with over a billion people, and travel there is not advised.”

Currently, there are no known cases of coronavirus in Israel, though dozens of people have been evaluated. Leshem said in most cases, those evaluated were diagnosed with influenza or a similar respiratory virus. He said the flu hits around 30% of all children and 10% of adults, and “it is not surprising to see Israelis return from China, get sick and need to be tested. It is also not surprising that they will test negative.”

Leshem also said it is important to put the coronavirus into perspective. The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a public-health emergency of international concern last week, something that it has only done in five prior situations since 2005, when it gained the power to do so.
The first was in 2009 in response to the H1N1 swine flu. In 2014, it named the polio outbreak an emergency, followed by the Ebola and Zika viruses in 2016 and then Ebola again in 2019.
But when determining how acute the threat of the virus actually is, one has to compare its threat to other similar respiratory viruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

While the number of infectious cases in China surpassed the global total for SARS, Leshem said the infection killed 800 people of the 8,000 diagnosed, or 10% of all patients, after emerging in China in late 2002.

MERS, on the other hand, is considered very lethal but less transmissible. While less than 3,000 cases have been diagnosed, more than 850 people in two dozen countries died of the disease.

Influenza and measles are also respiratory viruses that are highly infections but globally less lethal.
said *too little is known about coronavirus, such as from what animal it likely originated or if there will be a treatment. Netanyahu said Israel is working toward a vaccination against the coronavirus, adding that he approved plans to establish a vaccine factory in the country, which Leshem said could prove fruitful.

NOTE:  [from this *statement he obviously seems to not know much about what is happening in China and abroad. “Coronavirus is a grouping of various viruses, this particular strain is not like any of the others, is suspected of being tampered with and then released (accidentally or purposely). It is also suspected that it might be a trial vaccination program gone berserk. This info is available. But maybe they don’t want people to know. However, people had better begin preparing for this before its too late. Prevention is wisdom.]