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This week, Israel shut down educational institutions and imposed a blanket 14-day self-quarantine on everyone arriving from outside the country in order to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.
People of the Pod, a collaboration between the American Jewish Committee and The Times of Israel, discussed the country’s drastic efforts with Dr. Yonatan Freeman, an international relations expert and lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
According to Freeman, the broad implementation of quarantines is offset by our safety net systems. For example, unlike in many European countries, sick employees are not forcing themselves to workplaces for fear of missing a paycheck.
An outbreak similar to what is seen in Italy will hopefully be prevented as it would be a very drastic situation that can create a lot of havoc, said Freeman. He is optimistic since “Israel has always taken the correct steps,” he said, and has historically prevented outbreaks.
Said Freeman, emergency preparedness is the strongest proactive response: Early into the outbreak, Israeli scientists collected samples from throughout the large epicenters to begin work on studying the virus, he said.
Additionally, the fact that most citizens already served in the military means there is a sort of discipline that comes out in the populace. “That is an advantage to be prepared and act when the time comes,” said Freeman.
