Exchange of accusations: Did a coronavirus patient from Elad go to help her grandparents?

September 1, 2020   

Did a girl from Elad, who is sick with coronavirus, go to her grandparents in Bnei Brak to help them? This is the message sent out by the ZAKA Tel Aviv spokeswoman on Shabbat night: "During Shabbat, volunteers from ZAKA Israel and ZAKA Tel Aviv arrived to locate an 18-year-old coronavirus patient from the city of Elad - whose parents sent her to quarantine at the grandparents' home in Bnei Brak, after she had symptoms. The volunteers who arrived at the grandparents' apartment discovered an elderly couple in their 80s. According to the sick granddaughter, she came to help them with help at home. The case has been referred to the Ministry of Health." However, various sources in Elad claim that the story is false. According to a source with whom Haredim 10 spoke, "A girl was at her grandmother's to help her and did not need to be quarantined. While the girl was on vacation with her grandmother, the grandmother became infected - probably at a clothing store where she worked for a few hours or in another unknown place - and the granddaughter became infected from the grandmother! "How did ZAKA Tel Aviv find out about this? Very simply, the girl who lived in Elad went to get a coronavirus test in Bnei Brak, and from there the story started to unfold, while distorting everything and harming the family. This is a responsible and serious family." The source added: "A small sign, how do we know that the announcement they issued was false? Very simple - the grandmother is a widow! Her husband, the grandfather, passed away almost a year ago after a serious illness - and ZAKA's announcement stated that two elderly people in their 80s were with the granddaughter... "In the midst of Shabbat, ZAKA Tel Aviv volunteers arrived at the girl's apartment in Elad and there they were told the story by the parents, and the same words were told to them when they arrived in the middle of Shabbat at the grandmother's apartment in Bnei Brak." We contacted ZAKA Tel Aviv for a response - and this is what they replied: "The panicked reaction of certain parties does not change the facts. It is possible that the questions stem from the fact that they do not know who is being talked about. Precisely to preserve their dignity, no details about the patient or the family have been published so far, so that accusations of harming the family and the like are not understandable. "And here are the facts: The girl took a coronavirus test because of the symptoms of the disease, and was therefore obliged to stay in isolation. Despite this, she stayed at her grandmother's house on Shabbat, when she knew there was a concern that she was sick, which indeed became clear when the dedicated ZAKA volunteers came to inform her of a positive test result. "The grandmother at that time - was not sick, and even if she fell ill later on Shabbat, she would not have been sick. The media resonance they generate around the story is certainly important, so that people know not to endanger others when they are sick and constitute a ticking time bomb. This is also the reason that, by rabbinic instruction, we bring such cases to the public's attention if there are any. But this does not mean that it is permissible to change the facts.". And where is the grandfather? ""The girl's parents told the volunteers that she went to her grandparents, on whom the announcement was based. We do not have the authority to conduct an epidemiological investigation and check the Ministry of Interior's books for any data that is given to us, and it is possible that this is not the same family they are targeting, because as mentioned, we did not provide the family's details.".