Israel's high schools should operate online only for weeks or months, army taskforce on coronavirus said in a report published Monday.
The report was published by the Coronavirus Information and Knowledge Center, operated by IDF Military Intelligence under the auspices of the Health Ministry, ahead of the cabinet meeting later in the day.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet is set to meet later on Monday to discuss the effectiveness of the current nationwide lockdown as well as the exit strategy. The cabinet is expected to convene again on Thursday to mull whether to ease to tighten the lockdown curbs.
The memo says the reopening of the education system was a major trigger for the surge of COVID-19 in the country. "The ages among which the infected skyrocketed are 15-17 in the general sector, 12-17 in the Arab sector and 12-17 among males in the ultra-Orthodox sector."
The taskforce urges the government to "carefully consider the return to in-class studies".
“A jump in infection near the start of the school year has been witnessed in other countries around the world, including the Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Spain and Greece," said the report. "Many countries have chosen to go back to frontal studies only in the advanced stages of the lockdown exit."
The taskforce also cited a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to which, children under the age of 10 who catch the virus at educational institutions may spread the disease at home, even if they are asymptomatic.