To lockdown or not to lockdown, that is the question

Closure? No closure? This type of closure? That type of closure?

I get asked what I think of a potential closure or lockdown. 

I do not know if a closure or lockdown is necessary or useful or effective or not. I am no expert and I therefore have no preference to this method over any other method.

In my opinion, if the experts decide that this is the only tool left in their toolbelt, or if this is the tool that will be most effective right now, that is fine by me.

But. But. But.

There is always a big but.

But, if they are going to impose a closure, do it fully. Do it effectively. Do it seriously.

What happened last night is descriptive of exactly what the problem is. The government was set to vote n a closure on "red cities", when the Haredi politicians screamed loud enough and effectively enough threatening Netanyahu's future in politics (bluff or not, who knows?), so Netanyahu backed down and postponed the vote, so for now there is no closure.

Hold on - didn't they just tell us how necessary it is? if it is so necessary, why does the person who screams loudest get what he wants? Either it is necessary or not. And when the country sees that the rules are set, and then changed, and then changed again, based on he who screamed last and loudest, the country does not see any reason to play along and respect the decisions.

And then they discuss passing, instead, a partial closure. A night closure. As if we have anywhere to go at night anyway. All day long people can go around spreading CoronaVirus as much as they want, but no spreading it at night, and that is going to stop the spread. Sure it will. That's the ticket.

And if they are going to impose another closure, at some point, when it finally becomes inevitable, please do it for real. Meaning, the last couple of closures were not like the first closure in April. The closure in April was real. Everything was really closed and there was no coming or going. The CoronaVirus spread was practically stopped. What happened after that changed everything and reversed all the gains, but the closure itself did the job and accomplished what ti was meant to accomplish.

Since then the closures were closures in nothing but name. They were closures in appearance only. People were intentionally allowed in and out for almost any reason. They kept the appearance of a closure by not letting cars in or out on one side of a neighborhood or city, but letting them flow on the other side. And where they closed street traffic to cars, they allowed foot traffic in and out without blinking in their direction. 

So, if they are going to do a closure and put everyone through the suffering, do it fully so we won't need to go through it again, and again, and again, because they did not do it right but only in appearance. Do it right, stop the spread, put us through some short term pain for long term gains. Or don't do it at all. If the September closure is going to be like the June and July closures, don't bother. If it will be like the April closure, go ahead. At least we will know that it will have a real purpose.

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