A senior official for the Clalit health maintenance organization (HMO) on Sunday has been reported to have contracted coronavirus.
The official attended an event at the organizations' headquarters in Tel Aviv last week honoring employees for their work during the crisis.
Clalit Director General Prof. Ehud Davidson and other senior executives were also present at the event. However, at the end of an epidemiological investigation, Davidson was not among the seven of the event's attendants who were instructed to self-isolate.
Sources within the HMO criticized Davidson's decision to hold an "end of coronavirus" event for the employees, during a time when Israel sees a sharp increase in the number of daily virus diagnoses. The decision to hold the event was seen by the workers as odd and redundant.
"There were about 50 people in one room there," one Clalit employee told Ynet. "Most workers were mainly from infrastructure, logistics, and computing departments. When the director general and his deputy spoke, they'd done so without face masks. There was no social distancing at the event. The biggest and strangest oversight is that only seven people were instructed to go into isolation although the confirmed patients roamed freely among all those present."
All Clalit employees who were at the event were instructed to go into isolation - but later the decision was changed and, as stated, only seven participants were urged to self-isolate. Prof. Davidson and his deputy were not among those seven.
"Why did this event have to take place? After all, the coronavirus outbreak is not over. There is something a little pathetic about it, considering Tel Aviv is a virus hotspot at the moment, so why put 50 people in one room? We found it a little unnecessary, but we couldn't do anything, and there were people who objected. Even the management had slight resistance. Eventually, the director general's bureau, along with the deputies, decided to hold the event."
"The goal of the event was to honor the logistics and information systems departments on their unique efforts in recent months," read the statement. "It was held in a spacious hall and included 50 people - which is the quota allowed by the Health Ministry. The participants sat remotely according to the rules and wore masks as required. "
"Since the event was filmed and documented in its entirety, the Health Ministry decided only seven participants were required to go into isolation. Since the director general distanced himself according to the rules and wore a mask throughout the event, the Health Ministry determined that there was no need for him to go into isolation."