Report: Health Ministry May Reverse Quarantine Order for Kids

The Health Ministry was hedging Tuesday on the decision to end quarantine for schoolchildren who have come into contact with coronavirus carriers.

Lifting of the quarantine requirement is slated to take effect on Thursday, but ministry officials are saying the move will be reversed in the event of a rise in pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS) cases, Channel 12 news reported.

The second thoughts reflect data on the increase in such cases among children that have been recorded abroad, with symptoms emerging 30-45 days after infection.

Opposition Leader Binyamin Netanyahu decried the decision to lift the quarantine protocol as a danger to public health:

“Despite evidence from the United States about severe symptoms harming kids who had omicron, the government decided that in two days, we will switch to a policy of mass infection of all Israeli children,” he warned on Tuesday. “Without quarantine, without enforcement, without orderly tests — everyone will get infected.”

Furthermore, according to Netanyahu, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid “aren’t doing anything” to stop the pandemic, now in its fourth wave.

Meanwhile, a new report said that quarantine seems to induce more physical violence among children.

The ‘Children in Israel’ report of the National Council for the Child published Tuesday found that 31% of the children who went into isolation more than once experienced physical violence, compared with about 17% of those who went into isolation once or less.

59% of children who went into isolation more than once experienced tantrums, compared with 43% among those who were in isolation once and 36% of those who did not go into isolation at all.

The data also show that during the third closure, along with the closure of the education system, there was a 43% increase in the number of treatments by psychologists for students who were at risk for suicide.

At the same time, there was a decrease in the number of children and adolescents who came to emergency rooms after a suicide attempt.

The director general of the National Council for the Child, Vered Windman, said it was time to talk about what she defined as the “social booster.” “The systems of education, protection and care for children are the ones that urgently need a booster shot. For children and youth, there is no more important and urgent step than this,” she was quoted by Arutz Sheva as saying.