By Jonathan Frenkel
So far, Israel, the Startup Nation, has been able to contain Covid-19 and has slowly begun reopening the country’s economy.
As we ease into a “new normal,” we can now look back at how Israel has been able to overcome this first wave of the pandemic with relatively few deaths – 279 to date. (Please see updated editor’s note below.)
Israel’s best practices could serve as an example to US states and other countries currently working to reopen their economies amid a shrinking number of infections.
Choosing the right strategy
Israel’s strategy to close its borders to outside travelers in early March and take aggressive measures to lock down the country was not a given.
When you look at countries such as Sweden that opted for herd immunity, they basically sacrificed their elderly and immunocompromised citizens. Sweden, with a population close in number to Israel’s, has suffered an exponentially greater number of deaths (3,992) by letting the virus spread.
At the beginning, Israelis debated about whether putting the economy on hold was a sound decision. Citizens of a democracy can freely challenge their elected government and media. Nevertheless, Israelis by and large accepted isolation and lockdown, and it proved effective.
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