Health expert: Delta variant ‘a game changer’; some mask-wearing must return

The Delta variant of the coronavirus is “a game-changer” that will necessitate recalculations as to how to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, Gabi Barbash, a former director-general of the Health Ministry, tells Channel 12.

Barbash says the variant “is taking control the world over… We’re going to have to live with it. It’s far more contagious… It also hits youths and children.”

He says mask-wearing will have to return in certain locations, including at Ben Gurion Airport, to prevent the variant from spreading.

“Schools where there are unvaccinated children will have to resume wearing masks — we’ve got to go backwards.”

Currently, it is not known to what degree the Pfizer vaccine used in Israel protects from the variant. But most of the country’s children are unvaccinated and could therefore be at risk.