Additional Corona Test Complexes Opened: “Contributing to Effort”

“Checked and Travel” complexes this morning, in Jerusalem and Beersheba (Photo: Roy Idan, Moshe Mizrahi)

After last week the “Checked and Travel” complex opened
Taking samples to diagnose the Corona virus in Ganei Yehoshua in Tel Aviv – This week similar complexes were also opened in the Bedouin market in Be’er Sheva, the Haifa Convention Center parking lot and the Teddy Stadium parking lot in Jerusalem.

This morning (Tuesday) at 10:00 am, the test site in Beersheba will start operating and is expected to remain open until 11pm. In fact, the pilot in Beersheba started yesterday evening, and between 17:00 and 23:00 some 200 people arrived at the complex.

The complex is intended for residents of the city and the surrounding area, and MDA explains that hundreds of people living in solitary confinement could be tested there, developed symptoms and were invited by MDA to arrive. Only people who arrive in their vehicles will be accepted on the spot at the appointed time, after the Ministry of Health has confirmed their arrival at the complex.

As soon as the compound opened this morning, there was already a queue of subjects in their cars. MDA estimated that even today they would reach a few hundred subjects. There were some who arrived at the compound even though they had not been assigned a queue, and the policemen who guarded the place did not allow them to enter and they had to return.

The complex operates between four and eight routes in parallel. Anyone who wants to be examined will, as mentioned, have to get a permit from the Ministry of Health – and only then will they receive a queue to be sent to their mobile device with information on the date and time set, what route they are invited to – and a personal barcode will also be included for each subject.

Yoav Kimchi, a medical student at the Faculty of Health Sciences who volunteers at the Beit Shemesh compound, says the work is done with caution and like a moving film. We have national collaboration so that you can volunteer from other colleges in the area as well, ”he notes.

Kimchi and his friends underwent appropriate training from MDA, and they themselves take the samples from the subjects. At the Be’er Sheva complex, there are 12 volunteers on each shift at any given time. “The number may increase as needed and for the number of tests. Every day, another 30 additional instruments are installed, “he adds.

Kimchi understands the responsibility and risk he has, but for him this is the least he can do: “According to statistics, I am not in a risk group. Beyond that, I see it as a significant contribution, I follow all the precautionary guidelines on how to protect and avoid exposure to the virus,” he explains. “I understand the risks and the severity of the disease, but I think it’s important enough to do it. It was clear to me that I would do it. I am contributing my part in the effort.”

Prof. Schwartz: “It Disturbs Knowing the Rate of Disease Progress” (Photo: Hagai Dekel and Uri Davidovich)

The visitors to the test complex in Jerusalem this morning received a sign asking the car passengers to close the windows and turn off the air conditioner to prevent sticking. The entire complex is constructed so that the cars come in on one side, pass through one of the lanes, and leave the other side.

The complex itself is closed to passersby, and workers wear protective clothing and masks. By late noon, more than 400 people had been tested. This area is also open at this time only by referral from MDA or the Ministry of Health, and is not open to the general public.

Yarin, a liberated soldier and a yeshiva student who came to be examined at the Jerusalem compound, said: “We have a relative who is in a Corona hospital and we have been in contact with him.” According to him, some members of the family have already started showing corona symptoms: “It is important to know that the apparent corona symptoms are not severe, it can also be an hour or two heat and then it passes. It is like mild flu, not like severe flu.”

He added: “We really appreciate all the effort of all the people here. We ask the Blessed One to save them all and that there will be no death and damage and that people will heal quickly.”

Prof. Eli Schwartz, president of the Israeli Tropical Disease Association, said this morning at the Ynet studio that the increase in the number of tests is distorting the look at the spread of the virus: “The more tests we have, we will know who is sick and know how to isolate it. Basically, it bothers us to know the rate of disease progression. We’re not there yet. ”

The head of the Northern District for Maccabi Health Services, Dr. Galit Kaufman, reinforced Professor Schwartz’s words: “The more tests we do, the more we know. I think the Ministry of Health’s policy is going in that direction, too, and that’s true.”