NYT: Israel, A Vaccine World Leader, New Outbreak Tied To Delta, Forbes: 50% New Cases In Vaccinated

Last edited Sat Jun 26, 2021, 02:11 PM - Edit history (1)

'Israel, a world leader in fighting the virus, grapples with a new outbreak.' The New York Times, Updated June 25, 2021.

JERUSALEM — Israel has been a trailblazer in the post-pandemic world, largely returning to normal in May following one of the world’s fastest vaccination drives. But dozens of new cases recently emerged at schools in two cities, Modiin and Binyamina, leading to hundreds of people being quarantined. Israel has made 12- to 15-year-olds eligible for vaccination, but many have yet to get shots.

Despite the new outbreak, the country’s current death rate remains close to zero, and only 26 of 729 active coronavirus patients were hospitalized, according to data released by the Health Ministry. And the overall daily caseload remains far from the country’s peak in mid-January, when the average hit more than 8,000 daily cases. The containment effort has struggled to have an impact as the virus continues to spread through several cities.

Many of those who contracted the virus had been vaccinated, according to the director general of the Health Ministry, Prof. Chezy Levy, though he did not specify if they had had one or two doses. The Delta variant is unlikely to pose much risk to people who have been fully vaccinated, experts have said. The country has relied on the two-dose mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

Some Israeli officials and health experts have attributed the outbreaks to the Delta variant, and point to international travelers as a potential source of the outbreaks. According to Anat Danieli, a Health Ministry spokeswoman, the Delta variant had been identified in 180 samples as of last Sunday. But it was unclear how many of the new cases involved the variant, as the testing can take up to 10 days...

More,
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/24/world/middleeast/israel-covid-delta-variant.html

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* Also: 'Israel Prepares To Reinstate Mask Mandate As Delta Variant Drives New Covid Surge,' Forbes, June 24, 2021,
https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/06/24/israel-prepares-to-reinstate-mask-mandate-as-delta-variant-drives-new-covid-surge/

The mandate will be restored when the average number of daily Covid-19 cases over the course of a week exceeds 100, Israel’s health ministry said Thursday, a threshold its public health director Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis believes will be met Sunday. At the time of writing, there are already more than 100 cases reported for Thursday, which is the fourth consecutive day where Israel has registered over 100 new cases.

Israel’s Coronavirus Commissioner Professor Nachman Ash recommended people “to start wearing masks indoors already now,” the Jerusalem Post reported, adding that they will be “mandatory” as of next week.

While infections are low, especially compared to Israel’s peak of over 10,000 cases a day in January, the new outbreaks have clustered in children and in people who have already been vaccinated, prompting a renewed vaccination drive in children and the renewed prospect of quarantines for anybody exposed to the disease, even if they have been immunized.

As many as 50% of Israel’s new cases are among vaccinated people, officials said, though there is not yet enough data to draw any conclusions on how effective the vaccines are against the Delta variant, Alroy-Preis said. ...