Lockdown? What Was That Again?

For the first time in months, the nearly-forgotten word “lockdown” was mentioned yesterday. But Bennett assures us this won’t happen.

Another lockdown? Most Israelis will hear nothing of it.
Photo: Miriam Alster/Flash90

The weekend is almost here again, and half of July is already behind us. This whole year has been flying by.

Our youngest son certainly doesn’t mind. The faster time goes, the quicker he’ll be done with his mandatory army service. He recently reached the half-way mark known here as “the wall.” Imagine a pool with swimmers reaching the far side and touching the wall before swimming back. Our son reached that wall at the end of June.

From my point of view, time could happily pass a little slower. When my son finishes serving in the army, I will be almost 57 years old. It’s very close to 60. You understand what I mean. But no matter, age is just a number, isn’t it?

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We thought that we’d be going into a normal summer again here in Israel. But we are still alone in the Land. The tourists are still waiting for a green light to fly to Israel. And Corona is now once again the top story on the evening news. And if that wasn’t enough, the word “lockdown” was mentioned again yesterday by our Prime Minister. At the moment only as a warning of what could happen if we, the citizens, do not work together to prevent the further spread of the so-called “Delta” variant. Naftali Bennett reminded us yesterday to wear mask indoors, to refrain from shaking hands and to keep your distance from one another. Otherwise, Bennett said, we might find ourselves locked down again for the holidays. To that end, he has instructed the police to enforce wearing masks indoors and to distribute fines to violators.

Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett shows us in a press conference how we can prevent the next lockdown.

Bennett also asked us to refrain from flying abroad. I am not sure that this advice will be accepted by the citizens. Our eldest son and his fiancée joined the many other Israelis and flew to Vienna for a few days. I can understand them because it is very difficult to follow the advice of our government to go on vacation here in Israel. A few days in Eilat would have cost our son much more than the trip to Vienna.

Some 750 new Corona cases were reported yesterday. The highest daily total since March. The number of seriously ill people has almost doubled within two weeks, but is still very low at 53. Two percent of those infected with the virus develop a serious illness. And that seems to be a little stressful for our government. What will happen next? I have no idea. I just hope things will calm down by our son’s wedding in December.