Oh, the places you won’t go: Your guide to the latest lockdown
What is open/closed as of Friday at 2 p.m., what activities are allowed/banned, and when can you travel further than 1 kilometer from your home?
Ministers have agreed on sweeping lockdown measures, which went into effect on Friday at 2 p.m. and are to remain in place until at least October 11 — but likely longer — amid skyrocketing COVID-19 rates across the country.
Overnight Thursday and into Friday, lawmakers were still haggling over some of the details, but these are the regulations as the lockdown came into effect:
Where can I go?
Almost anywhere within 1 kilometer of your home, so long as that place is outdoors and not a gathering, except in special circumstances.
What will be open and what will be closed?
Restaurants, malls, hotels, swimming pools, gyms, hairdressers and other leisure services are closed.
Supermarkets, pharmacies, hardware/houseware stores, eyeglass stores, electronic stores, laundromats are deemed essential and will remain open.
Prayers and protests?
Still not confirmed. The proposal is that you can meet up for a socially distanced outdoor prayer session of up to 20 people. On Yom Kippur, 10 people will be allowed inside synagogues at a time, but otherwise, they will be shut.
You can also go and protest in a capsule of 19 people.
In both cases you need to stay within that 1-kilometer limit, and you may not sit next to someone you do not live with.
Both prayer and protest limits are subject to Knesset approval.
Can I visit a friend?
You can’t go to another person’s house unless you’re there to help a person in need or for urgent work.
The regulations also generally cap indoor gatherings at 10 people, and 20 outdoors.
What are the exceptions to the 1-kilometer limit?
There’s a long list of exceptions: going to work deemed essential; purchasing food or essential supplies, including phones and electrical goods; aiding the elderly or those in need; going to a doctor’s appointment, including alternative medicine, or therapy; going to the Knesset; donating blood; participating in legal proceedings; exercising, alone or with members of the same household, provided the starting point is from home; attending a funeral or circumcision; going to the airport for an overseas flight; for women, travel to a ritual bath or mikveh; caring for animals.
Ooooh, I own a hair salon. I think you left it off by accident.
Nope. You’re closed.
OK, what if I start selling phones at my hair salon?
Nice try.
Will playgrounds and parks stay open?
Yes, to residents who live within a 1-kilometer radius.
What else?
Residents of welfare programs or programs for people with disabilities and their relatives are permitted to move freely between the institutions and homes. First-degree relatives of fallen soldiers during the Yom Kippur War may attend memorials, the rules stipulate.
Israelis will be permitted to go out of bounds to purchase Sukkot holiday items, including the ritual lulav and etrog, the rules say.
Anything else?
No more than three people may travel in the same car, except for members of the same family. For larger vehicles, another passenger is permitted per each additional row of seats.
You can jog along the beach if you live close by.
Final thoughts?
Wear a mask, keep your distance.
