Red Light, Green Light: Chareidi Corona Cases Fall

Photo: Flash 90

Pay attention to the following statistic: Of the 29 municipalities currently labeled “red” under Prof. Ronni Gamzu’s “traffic light plan,” only one — the yishuv of Emanuel — is predominantly chareidi. Not one of the major chareidi population centers is still in the red category. Arab towns have replaced them — 60% of red towns are now Arab, as are 30% of new coronavirus cases.

This would appear to signify a major step forward for the chareidi community in managing to significantly reduce the rate of infection. However, it’s not so simple. Color coding is based on three different variables: the number of new cases recorded per week; the number of new cases per week as a percentage of the town’s population; and the percentage of positive test results. The idea behind the “traffic light” system is supposedly to form a balanced picture of what’s going on in any given location. In practice, by focusing on any one of the variables and downplaying the others, a skewed picture can still be presented.

This was what seemed to happen when I spoke with Roni Numa, the man responsible for managing COVID-19 in the chareidi community on behalf of the Health Ministry. When I mentioned the fact that virtually all chareidi towns are now out of the red zone, he sighed and said, “Unfortunately, that’s only on paper. At the hospitals and coronavirus hotels the figures are different.”

Just what is going on in the hospitals and coronavirus hotels that so concerns Numa? Given that most experts concur that the most important statistic relates to the number of serious cases (and particularly to the number of serious cases added daily), surely Numa should feel encouraged that as of this week, this number hovered around 430, which is considered low relative to the number of serious cases the health system is equipped to handle. Israel is a long way off the situation in places like New York or Italy, where the health system was swamped and doctors had to choose whom to save.