Cabinet Extends ‘Green Pass’ for a Week Despite Hospital Chiefs’ Opposition

Cabinet ministers approved extending the Green Pass certificate by a week as the Health Ministry requested extra time to study the data before deciding whether to cancel the certificate altogether.

The Green Pass program, which limits entry to certain venues and activities to those with proof of immunization or negative tests, had been set to expire on Tuesday. The Health Ministry had asked for more time to evaluate data on how resilient people are to infection with omicron after vaccination or having recovered from the virus.

Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman, who has been vocally opposed to extending the Green Pass, voted in favor of the extension, but vowed that he will refuse to extend it “for even one more second” past Feb. 6.

The requirement for educational staff to show a Green Pass has been extended until Feb. 27, and the same rules for health and welfare sites are extended until March 1.

Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar voted against extending the pass even for a week, saying there is no longer a cause for it.

“The health minister says the Green Pass is likely to be eliminated, meaning there is clear recognition of its inefficiency,” said Sa’ar.

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said that the Green Pass should be eventually ended, but noted that there is still a difference in infection rates between the vaccinated and unvaccinated.

At the beginning of the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said there are signs that the omicron COVID wave is abating, but it is too early to declare victory.

“We are seeing the beginning of a stabilization trend in the Omicron wave,” he said. “I am choosing my words in order to avoid giving an impression to the effect that it is over, and end-of-omicron celebrations are out of place. At the moment, we are dealing with severe pressure at the hospitals where there is still a large number of patients who are infected.”

“We never collapsed in the two years [of pandemic]. The collapse was more psychological than physical. Did we collapse in terms of patient overload? No. I do not recall that happening to us,” said Prof. Yaakov Jerris, director of the COVID ward at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital.

Ichilov is currently treating 120 coronavirus patients, of whom 90 are hospitalized in the internal medicine wards. “Defining a serious patient is problematic. For example, a patient with a chronic lung disease always had a low level of oxygen, and now he is with coronavirus, which technically makes him a serious coronavirus patient, but that’s not true. The patient is in a difficult condition because he has a serious underlying condition.”

Dr. Roi Ilan, director of the Intensive Care Unit at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, also agreed with Prof. Jeris. “The reason for overload is not necessarily due to people who are seriously ill with coronavirus, but anyone who tested positive. The wrong calculation actually puts a lot of pressure on the system,” he said.

“A patient who is hospitalized in the coronavirus ward receives double the amount of nurses. Half of the staff inside are protected, caring for the patient, and the other half are waiting outside – ready to be replaced. It is a huge burden.”