CDC urges Americans to avoid travel to Israel due to spread of COVID-19 The Times of Israel

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that Americans should avoid travel to Israel because COVID-19 is “extremely high” in the country.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “If you must travel to Israel, make sure you receive your full vaccination before you travel.”

In addition to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has updated its travel advisories to the highest level for Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar and 20 other countries around the world.

In general, the CDC ready now Just over 100 countries and territories are ‘Level 4: Very High’. The CDC also raised 20 other countries to Level 3: High, including Uganda, Kuwait, Jamaica, Costa Rica and Cuba. The CDC recommends that unvaccinated Americans avoid non-essential travel to these destinations.

Today, Monday, Israel confirmed 65,259 new cases of infection, according to the latest figures issued by the Ministry of Health, which is the highest daily number of new cases since the beginning of the epidemic. This number applies only to those who have tested positive at testing centers operated by the state government.

The Ministry of Health said other interesting figures, particularly the number of patients in hospital, have not been released in recent days due to a technical problem.

Meanwhile, Treasury Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Tuesday he wanted to “eliminate” the Green Corridor, the Israeli COVID-19 vaccination or recovery certificate, which is currently needed to reach many public places.

This is due to the fact that more lenient rules on isolating confirmed applicants will come into effect on Wednesday, when further easing of rules related to COVID will be needed, as the highly contagious but less violent omicron variant spreads across the country.

According to Minister Lieberman, the Green Corridor has no medical or epidemiological rationale, and many experts agree with him. He said in a tweet: “What he’s doing is directly harming the day-to-day workings of the economy, and contributes significantly to creating panic among the public. I am working with all stakeholders to end the Green Corridor to protect our normal daily routine.”

A Green Pass is proof that the holder has been vaccinated, recovered from COVID-19, or was recently tested negative.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz agreed on Monday to shorten the isolation period for coronavirus patients from seven to five days.

In response to Tuesday’s decision, 180 mayors demanded the full release of students and teachers from quarantine as long as they can test negative for the coronavirus. In a letter to Bennett and Horowitz, they wrote that quarantine is causing “undeniable harm” to students by exposing them to social distance and loneliness.

400 psychologists sent a similar message to two ministers on Tuesday. “It makes no sense to isolate Terry’s children,” they wrote. “Change the guidelines for our children and put their mental health first. We believe the benefits of doing this outweigh the risks of this pandemic.”

The letter went on to say that quarantine is “a constant blow to personal and public resilience. Quarantine means difference in sources of support, difference in your social partners and social isolation, and lower expectations for our children… This difference leads to devastating outcomes, some of which are screen addiction. Others have eroded in sensitive psyche and they become part of children’s worldview and the way they experience themselves and their role in the world.

Under the new isolation policy, which takes effect at midnight Tuesday, approved coronavirus patients are required to take two coronavirus tests at home on the fourth and fifth days after infection. If both are negative and asymptomatic, they can be released from isolation at the end of the fifth day.

Persons exposed to the patient should be placed in quarantine for a full five days. They will also need to take the official express test at the end, but they will no longer have to take the formal test at the beginning of that period. A home test is not enough to get out of quarantine.

Due to the change in isolation policy, Bennett, Horowitz, and Lieberman announced plans to distribute 25 to 30 million home test kits to Israelis for free.

Reuters shared this report.