The attitude of the Israeli public towards coronavirus seems to have changed with the coming of spring. The warming weather, it seems, made us forget there's a pandemic still raging outside.
Add to this the fall in the number of sick, the fact that we have been sitting at home for weeks - dying to work, have fun, exercise freely, give our children and ourselves some space - and you have a recipe for disaster.
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Israelis wearing masks as they walk in downtown Tel Aviv on Saturday
(Photo: Moti Kimchi)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also seems confused. The understandable pressure placed on him to rekindle the economy - not to mention public opinion that has zoomed from great fear to open disregard of health guidelines - has stopped him from forming a clear and careful exit plan.
While every country's best brains are working on a gradual and clear-cut plan for normal life under the threat of the virus, Israel took its foot off every single brake all at once.
Non-essential workplaces, stores of all kinds, non-essential service providers like hairdressers and beauty salons - all available from Sunday.
The children's rumored premature return to schools and kindergartens will complete this swift U-turn.
This will be just wonderful in the short run. We'll go out, make a living, have fun. Truly, we need these like we need air to breathe. But the problem is that the spread of the violent virus around the world has not yet been stemmed.
Some countries are still dealing with hundreds of fatal cases daily, while in Israel hundreds of new patients are still being diagnosed every day.
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A poster of Queen Elizabeth and an excerpt from her recent address to the nation is displayed in coronavirus-hit central London
(Photo: AFP)
The previous situation, which was designed to keep the illness under control, could have greatly prolonged the battle against the virus while significantly reducing our quality of life - and also claimed quite a few lives in the process due to the extensive effects that a longer closure could have on the economy.
But total freedom can cause damage that will be very difficult to repair. Another outbreak could mean a high death toll and drag us back into a situation in which we are all required to confine ourselves to our homes again.
Between these two extreme courses of action, there is another, more logical and straightforward option - taking determined and aggressive measures to contain the population exposed to the virus.
We could manage the disease in such a way that would likely drive down the death toll and enable the economy and our lives to return back to normal - even if the virus returns.
Such a strategy requires tremendous cooperation and active management of the sick using a large-scale system that would identify chains of infection.
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Medical staff at Hilel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera during coronavirus outbreak
(Photo: Rafi Koren)
This system would track patients, conduct quick testing and immediately identify these chains of infection and isolate them in special facilities - not at home - while adhering to social distancing rules for an extended period. There is great hope that with this system we could get back to normal while taking minimal risk.
The Health Ministry has itself dismissed over the last few days any real exploration of this option, claiming it entails an and unmanageable logistical effort. But compared to the alternatives, this is surely the only sensible choice, and we should make every effort to prepare for it ahead of time.
If the ministry believes that this is an impossible task, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must take responsibility and instruct the ministers who are subordinate to him.
Otherwise, all the decisions he has made so far, which have brought Israel to its best possible situation in the battle against coronavirus, will have been for naught.