The government's so-called "Green Classroom” initiative, meant to reduce quarantine times for school students exposed to verified COVID-19 patients, will be expanded starting next Sunday to more Israeli cities.
The current Green Class regulations allows elementary school students aged 6-11 in green local authorities, where the COVID infection rate is considered low, to skip compulsory quarantine if a student in their class has tested positive for coronavirus, and instead submit to daily virus tests, including two PCR tests, for a week.
As per the new regulations, approved by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett following recommendations of the Health Ministry, the Green Class regulations will be expanded to include children in kindergartens and daycare centers in yellow local authorities, where the infection rate is considered mild.
The same regulations will also apply to teaching staff exposed to a student with the virus.
It was also decided that students participating in the Green Class outline will not be allowed to participate in afterschool, multi-participant activities that do not include their own classmates, nor will they be allowed to enter places that allow only those who were vaccinated or otherwise recovered from the pathogen to enter.
The decision to limit the students' access to venues and events afterschool hours was prompted by the fact Israel's COVID vaccination drive currently inoculates only those aged 12 and up, meaning that those taking part in the Green Classroom outline belong to age groups not yet eligible to receive the COVID vaccine, and are therefore at an heightened risk of infection.
It was further decided that a separate outline would be formulated by the ministries of health and education for orange and red local authorities due to the higher infection rate and the increased risk of an outbreak in these areas.