‘An era is over’: Israel’s last COVID-specific hospital ward closes

By Renee Ghert-Zand

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30 April 2023, 4:24 pm

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Renee Ghert-Zand is the health reporter and a feature writer for The Times of Israel.

An undated photo of Herzog Hospital staff in the COVID ward in Jerusalem at the height of the pandemic. (Courtesy/Herzog Hospital)

Israel’s last COVID-specific ward will close tomorrow at Herzog Hospital in Jerusalem. With this, any new COVID-19 patients will be treated in internal medicine departments at other hospitals throughout the country.

“An era is over. We learned a lot. We gained experience that we all hope not to have to use again in the future. We are all happy that this massive event is behind us,” says Herzog Hospital head Dr. Kobi Haviv.

Herzog Hospital’s specialized COVID ward has operated continuously since August 2020, having opened during the pandemic’s second wave.

Some 2,000 patients, many elderly and with severe COVID infections and complicating preexisting medical conditions, were treated over the 32-month period. Despite these patients’ profiles, the hospital experienced a COVID mortality rate that was lower than the national average.

The hospital treated most of the country’s critically ill patients in the early stages of each COVID wave, sometimes with 125 beds filled with those who were intubated. Unlike other medical centers that closed their COVID units between waves, Herzog Hospital kept its COVID unit open continuously. As it took in new admissions, other hospitals had time to prepare for reopening their COVID wards.