Opinion Israel's Refusal to Test Its Arab Population for COVID-19 Is a Ticking Time-bomb

Dr. Nihaya Daoud Mar 31, 2020  

Merchants and shoppers walk in East Jerusalem, near the Old City, during the coronavirus lockdown.Emil Salman

Speaking on Channel 12 news on Sunday, the director general of Magen David Adom emergency medical services announced that there will be no more testing for the coronavirus in the Arab community if the criteria aren’t changed. This surprising statement only intensified our fears that the number of those infected in the Arab community is far higher than what has been reported until now, but there is no information because there are no tests.

There are 38 patients diagnosed in Arab communities (according to figures published on March 27). Arabs constitute 20 percent of Israel’s population, and in addition are an at-risk population, due to the high percentage of those suffering from chronic illnesses, and to the crowded living conditions and problematic socioeconomic situation.

Therefore, according to a very rough calculation, there should be at least 800 Arabs now suffering from the coronavirus. And if there are six carriers for every diagnosed patient, we are talking about approximately 4,800 patients and carriers in Arab communities who are likely to infect others without being aware of it. At present the 38 patients comprise less than 1 percent of all those infected. That is a very low percentage, which contradicts the claims of the Health Ministry director general (on March 27) about Arab violations of home quarantine directives.

An in-depth examination seems to indicate that the presumably low morbidity in the Arab communities does in fact stem from absence of testing there. According to various reports, Magen David Adom reaches the Arab communities infrequently, and lacks a good infrastructure there. Emergency services in Arab communities are usually provided by private companies, which operate about 600 ambulances. The employees of these companies have not been trained by MDA to administer coronavirus tests, and the ambulance drivers have not been trained to evacuate coronavirus patients from the communities to hospitals, which are usually distant.

If there is a serious outbreak of the virus in the Arab communities, there will be no way of transferring patients in a protected manner without the risk of infecting others.

At the time of writing not a single drive-through station for coronavirus tests has been set up in Arab communities. The original plan for the drive-through points included seven Jewish communities, and not a single Arab one. Therefore, information about the drive-through plan was published only in Hebrew. The Arabs didn’t hear about these points on time, and due to the distance and the information delay, only a small number of Arabs asked to be tested in the Jewish communities. The paucity of requests led to a decision not to establish drive-through points in Arab communities. Only after the intervention of Arab members of Knesset was a promise made to set them up, but this is being delayed.

Arabs serving on medical teams − doctors, nurses, caregivers, laboratory workers and others − are now at the forefront of the war against the coronavirus in Israel’s hospitals, but they cannot be at ease about the level of protection of their families from the virus.

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-israel-pays-a-price-for-ignoring-the-arab-community-in-its-coronavirus-response-1.8729117/.premium-israel-pays-a-price-for-ignoring-the-arab-community-in-its-coronavirus-response-1.8729117?fbclid=IwAR3RWtKeuCIgNnpny67Tul_MA_3DWc1OwWHN6AeCU-l0eSXlzAOm9cC8Qnk