Education Ministry chief: quarantine exemption pilot a success, should be implemented nationwide

Education Ministry Director-General Yigal Slovik tells the Ynet news site that the pilot program to exempt schoolkids from quarantine if they were in contact with a coronavirus carrier, implemented in some schools last week, was a success and should be implemented in all educational institutions.

“The ‘green class’ pilot ended successfully and proved that it is possible to interrupt infection chains and reduce quarantines,” Slovik says in an interview.

“Health officials will present the findings to the prime minister in two days, who will decide on the application of the model throughout the education system, including kindergartens. We are prepared to expand the model throughout the entire education system,” he says.

Under the new quarantine system, students exposed to someone infected with COVID-19 are allowed back at school once they take a PCR test and receive a negative result. The students, though back in class, have to undergo rapid antigen tests every day for a week, at the end of which they will take another PCR test, which, if negative, declares them all-clear.

The exemption for quarantine only applies to school attendance. Children will not be able to utilize the testing program to exempt them from general quarantine, nor will they be able to attend afterschool activities.