Outgoing Health Ministry's deputy director on Wednesday said the nighttime lockdown, currently trying to be approved by the government's legal counsel, is akin to trying to "hurt a fly using a cannon".
Prof. Itamar Grotto last month announced his resignation after 13 years in the position and set to officially leave his post at the end of February, 2021.
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Outgoing Health Ministry Deputy Director-General Prof. Itamar Grotto
(Photo: Dana Kopel )
In an interview with Ynet, Grotto said he is skeptical of the proposed nighttime lockdown and is actually in support of reopening of all the country's malls, which was agreed upon during a coronavirus cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening.
"I think, like all my colleagues in the health care system, that nighttime lockdown is a tool that is not suitable for use in the face of the problems presented by the holiday of Hanukkah," he said, referring to the start of the Jewish holiday, characterized by mass gatherings.
"Other countries in the world have tried it, for example in Spain, where people gather to watch sports games in pubs or buy drinks at the supermarket and then go to parks, it has worked. For us, lighting candles [on Hanukkah] is an important tradition, but stopping gatherings with a nighttime curfew is like using a cannon to hit a fly."
Grotto said the police will be instructed to stop any illegal, mass candle lighting ceremonies, while he urged the public to celebrate the holiday with their nuclear families.
Grotto said the police will be instructed to stop any illegal, mass candle lighting ceremonies, while he urgefv
the public to celebrate the holiday with their nuclear families.
The professor added he does not believe the reopening of all shopping centers on Wednesday morning, having earlier approved a pilot that allowed only 15 malls to operate, will cause a major spike in infections. "It may contribute to the spread of the disease, but it will be minimal," he said.
"It is obvious that concentrating the entire public in 15 malls is not a solution. If you decide on reopening, you have to reopen them all, in order to really disperse the people and not cause a high concentration [of the public] in one place."
When asked if the government will order the closure of the malls if infection spikes, Grotto said that "no one can predict exactly what will happen".