Itamar Grotto, the former deputy director of the Health Ministry, suggests that it could be to Israelis’ benefit to be infected by the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
“It could be that we should think about such a policy… of letting people get infected,” Grotto tells the Kan public broadcaster.
The ex-health official suggests that in the face of the ultra-contagious Omicron variant, the policy of quarantine, even for those who are not vaccinated, is no longer effective.
He says early data from abroad shows that while many Israelis will become infected, rates of hospitalizations will not shoot up “like they did in the last wave, we won’t see that again.”
“It has to become more of an individual problem than a public problem,” says Grotto, lamenting constant quarantining of school-age students when a classmate tests positive.
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