Prof. Idit Matot of Ichilov Hospital, one of the most well-known voices in Israel since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, harshly criticized the policy in dealing with Omicron in a post today (Saturday night) - and called for a change in the isolation policy.
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Here is the full post published by Prof. Matot - Director of the Anesthesiology Department and close to former Corona Projector and Hospital CEO Prof. Roni Gamzo:
""Good week, this is Professor Idit Matot.".
These days we mark two years since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic and unfortunately, if there is one thing that still governs the decision-makers in this event, it is anxiety and a sense of fear. 'Resilience' is being agile in our ability to be flexible, to understand at any given time what we are facing and to act accordingly.
Omicron belongs to the coronavirus family, but there is no comparison between it and previous strains such as the Alpha and Delta that we experienced, which caused a prolonged and severe illness that caused fatal damage to the lungs with frequent need for ventilation and sometimes the use of ECMO.
That was then.
It's not now - not the Omicron. In fact, for a month now we have been seeing and understanding that the Omicron is highly contagious but has minimal capacity for damage. Minimal! And as proof, we have no ventilators at Ichilov with Omicron. Not even one!!! There is also no ACMO problem as there was in the past because there is simply no need.
What are there? Patients with the flu who are on ventilators. These patients are not counted or publicized. These are patients who fill the hospitals by the hundreds every year, who are hospitalized in intensive care, some are admitted to intensive care, and about whom we don't hear as often, if at all, except for the annual article about the 'old woman in the hallway.' Flu is a disease without public relations. But it kills.
Important to know: The numbers that show us of coronavirus patients in hospitals, both mild (mostly) and severe, have coronavirus but the vast majority are not hospitalized because of coronavirus! For example: women giving birth, young people after falling from a scooter, a patient with a urinary tract infection, and more.
I'm reporting to you about two seriously ill patients in our intensive care unit, but the truth is that they are not due to coronavirus, one after a serious car accident and the other due to a brain hemorrhage.
Therefore, the publication of the number of seriously ill patients with Corona that appears every day in the media is misleading!
It makes sense that someone who is not in a hospital would think that the coronavirus caused a serious illness, but this is not the case. These are patients with confirmed coronavirus who were hospitalized for another reason.
In fact, those seriously ill due to the coronavirus are alone, and for some of them, the tightened definition of a seriously ill person, as we discussed in the past, creates a false representation of serious illness without justification, and in reality only creates anxiety and leads to problematic management decisions.
Unfortunately, instead of treating this species accordingly, as we said, people are forced to be confined to their homes, and we are de facto in a kind of lockdown, and the country is on the verge of collapse.
Tell me, have we gone crazy? And for what?
It reminds me that a few weeks ago, a few drops fell here, but we gave it a name (Carmel) and we were all waiting for a flood. Now, it's really just a matter of branding.
And most of all, the madness of the battalions should be reevaluated. Certainly for the asymptomatic ones. Certainly for the children who must live a life of routine - we are robbing them of childhood, development, learning, and giving them fears, mental disorders, and regression.
Please save our future generation but also save the parents who are isolating with their children. Hundreds of thousands are isolated for what? A huge population is walking around asymptomatic with Omicron and we don't even know it. Many are infected and are not aware of it. During this period and with the current Corona strain (Omicron), the guidelines need to be adjusted:
"Anyone who feels unwell should stay home. Everyone else - let them go free and just do one thing - wear masks.".
