School Quarantine Policy Changes Again on First Day

The new quarantine policy in the Israeli school system saw its first update within the first twenty-four hours of its implementation on Thursday, following days of well-publicized internal dissension among educational and health officials.

The update said that unvaccinated children with a family member who is a confirmed carrier will need to stay home for five days, pending a negative antigen test result, according to The Times of Israel.

This did away with the previous new rule, which went into effect Thursday morning, according to which only unvaccinated children who were exposed and refused regular testing needed to stay home.

In addition, recovered children will be exempt from having to take twice-weekly tests for 60 days, as well as children in special education.

Only about fifty percent of Israel’s student population was present on Thursday to partake of the confusion, Ynet reported, based on numbers submitted by the municipalities.

A large portion of the student body was home in Yerushalayim and some other localities because of the snow, but apparently many parents kept their kids home out of concern they’d be unduly exposed to coronavirus under the new rules.

Ran Erez, chairman of the teachers union for above elementary grades, called on the Education Ministry to allow teachers to conduct classes via Zoom to avoid exposure to the virus. He said that while he supports the lifting of quarantine requirements, he also supports the request of those teachers who would prefer to teach virtually.