Israel And Ben Gurion COVID-19 Reopening Master Thread

[Dan]

Insanity!

[moish]

Oh, and my results came back Shabbos afternoon, 42 hours after the test. BH negative

[yelped]

Insanity!

Truly so. This can't go on like this.

[eljay]

To make a long story short, the hotel is terrible. First room I was assigned had a gigantic spill of some kind on the carpet. Went downstairs to switch. Second room had someone in it already . Went downstairs where they disputed that. Waited half hour until they sorted it out. Went back upstairs with new room and keys but keys didnt work. Couldnt get back down because they lock the floor. (Regular elevators and stairs are locked, you use service elevator, but they lock the door to access it so youre stuck on your floor)
Sat in hallway chair for 45 minutes (Hallway phone was out of order) until Arab worker came through and locked door behind him. I explained to him my predicament, he didnt believe me and said "sit there all night." (I tried to reach out to Pikud Oref via Whatsapp to no avail)
When he unlocked the door so he could leave I busted through and was facing off with him all the way to the service elevator. I got the button pressed and pushed my way in and he proceeded to hold the door open. He finally called someone and spoke in Arabic and let the door close. We cursed at each other the whole way down.
Finally downstairs I gave them hell and refused to go back upstairs unless I was escorted by someone to insure I was able to enter a room. My new room had dried urine on the toilet seat but I let it pass.
Friday, I checked for my results pretty much every 5 minutes. At around 3pm I was able to find out that test n go was only processing the Thurs noon tests and would be between 3 and 6 hours before they got to my test.
A couple hours prior, my wife came by to drop something off for me and noticed there were no soldiers downstairs. Additionally, when speaking with the hotel staff, someone mentioned to her that it was not clear that I would be able to leave even with a negative since if anyone from the plane tested positive, I would need to be tested again and await the results of that second test.
At 3:30 I decided that enough was enough and packed up my stuff. I told my wife to come back with the car. I then tried to go downstairs only to find the door locked again. I stood to the side of the door for about a half hour and was starting to resign myself to the fact that I would probably not be able to get out. I told my wife to go back home.
Suddenly, I hear voices on the other side of the door and then it opened with 2 Arab workers. I slammed the door open with all my might and his attempts to close it on me failed. He tried to block my path but I warned him not to touch me. He immediately called someone and spoke in Arabic while I made my way to the elevator and downstairs.
I was totally expecting to find a committee waiting for me but to my surprise, there wasnt any. Im not sure who the Arab spoke to.
Somebody opened the hotel door for me and said, "Your taxi is over there". It seems someone else was being released at that time. I said thanks and turned the other way and ran towards my wife who was still there. "Rega, are you meshuchrar??" is what I heard from one of the hotel guards as I ran towards freedom...
Trust me, this was the short version

OMG

[ExGingi]

To make a long story short, the hotel is terrible. First room I was assigned had a gigantic spill of some kind on the carpet. Went downstairs to switch. Second room had someone in it already . Went downstairs where they disputed that. Waited half hour until they sorted it out. Went back upstairs with new room and keys but keys didnt work. Couldnt get back down because they lock the floor. (Regular elevators and stairs are locked, you use service elevator, but they lock the door to access it so youre stuck on your floor)
Sat in hallway chair for 45 minutes (Hallway phone was out of order) until Arab worker came through and locked door behind him. I explained to him my predicament, he didnt believe me and said "sit there all night." (I tried to reach out to Pikud Oref via Whatsapp to no avail)
When he unlocked the door so he could leave I busted through and was facing off with him all the way to the service elevator. I got the button pressed and pushed my way in and he proceeded to hold the door open. He finally called someone and spoke in Arabic and let the door close. We cursed at each other the whole way down.
Finally downstairs I gave them hell and refused to go back upstairs unless I was escorted by someone to insure I was able to enter a room. My new room had dried urine on the toilet seat but I let it pass.
Friday, I checked for my results pretty much every 5 minutes. At around 3pm I was able to find out that test n go was only processing the Thurs noon tests and would be between 3 and 6 hours before they got to my test.
A couple hours prior, my wife came by to drop something off for me and noticed there were no soldiers downstairs. Additionally, when speaking with the hotel staff, someone mentioned to her that it was not clear that I would be able to leave even with a negative since if anyone from the plane tested positive, I would need to be tested again and await the results of that second test.
At 3:30 I decided that enough was enough and packed up my stuff. I told my wife to come back with the car. I then tried to go downstairs only to find the door locked again. I stood to the side of the door for about a half hour and was starting to resign myself to the fact that I would probably not be able to get out. I told my wife to go back home.
Suddenly, I hear voices on the other side of the door and then it opened with 2 Arab workers. I slammed the door open with all my might and his attempts to close it on me failed. He tried to block my path but I warned him not to touch me. He immediately called someone and spoke in Arabic while I made my way to the elevator and downstairs.
I was totally expecting to find a committee waiting for me but to my surprise, there wasnt any. Im not sure who the Arab spoke to.
Somebody opened the hotel door for me and said, "Your taxi is over there". It seems someone else was being released at that time. I said thanks and turned the other way and ran towards my wife who was still there. "Rega, are you meshuchrar??" is what I heard from one of the hotel guards as I ran towards freedom...
Trust me, this was the short version

Very different experience from what DW had. While the boarding the bus to hotel, waiting etc. wasn't pleasant. She actually liked the hotel room which had a nice view of the Mediterranean, and was able to rest and shower after not being able to sleep on the flight.

Food was a bit of an issue as not everything was up to par from a Kashrus standpoint. Once she got the negative result of the PCR test taken upon landing, she was allowed to leave, though the process wasn't straightforward.

[AsherO]

Very different experience from what DW had. While the boarding the bus to hotel, waiting etc. wasn't pleasant. She actually liked the hotel room which had a nice view of the Mediterranean, and was able to rest and shower after not being able to sleep on the flight.

Food was a bit of an issue as not everything was up to par from a Kashrus standpoint. Once she got the negative result of the PCR test taken upon landing, she was allowed to leave, though the process wasn't straightforward.

If these hotels are operated by 3rd parties, it might be YMMV based on organization / policies of that specific operator..

[ExGingi]

If these hotels are operated by 3rd parties, it might be YMMV based on organization / policies of that specific operator..

AFAIK there are only 2 hotels. Both Dan hotels, one in JLM and the other in TLV. DW went to the one in TLV as it is closer to Kfar Chabad (where she completed her quarantine).

Here are some pics

[Buruch]

Is it official yet that tourists from orange countries can come next week?

[tavster]

Is it official yet that tourists from orange countries can come next week?

It's awaiting a final sign-off

[ExGingi]

Is it official yet that tourists from orange countries can come next week?

https://youtu.be/loQM4SGGd-k

Might need to use an Israeli server VPN to watch.

[tavster]

For what it's worth.
Keeping in mind it can change 5 times until next week

https://twitter.com/gotomichal/status/1478378850065203210?t=yG_btESP5Drysg_h-ghlPQ&s=19

[ExGingi]

For what it's worth.
Keeping in mind it can change 5 times until next week

https://twitter.com/gotomichal/status/1478378850065203210?t=yG_btESP5Drysg_h-ghlPQ&s=19

You haven't graduated beyond counting on the fingers of one hand?

And...

https://twitter.com/gotomichal/status/1478376812069720074?s=21

[tavster]

You haven't graduated beyond counting on the fingers of one hand?

Lol

[ExGingi]

Israeli supreme court gives the government 7 days to respond to the following two questions:

1. Why are they forbidding fully vaccinated people from traveling to "red countries" rather than use other protective means such as quarantine upon return.

2. Why don't they allow protected (fully vaccinated or recently recovered) citizens coming from "red countries" exit quarantine with a negative PCR on the 3rd day?

[points 99]

Israeli supreme court gives the government 7 days to respond to the following two questions:

1. Why are they forbidding fully vaccinated people from traveling to "red countries" rather than use other protective means such as quarantine upon return.

2. Why don't they allow protected (fully vaccinated or recently recovered) citizens coming from "red countries" exit quarantine with a negative PCR on the 3rd day?

By the time the 7 days are up, there won't be any red countries.
https://www.bhol.co.il/news/1321899?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=article_in_bhol

[ExGingi]

By the time the 7 days are up, there won't be any red countries.
https://www.bhol.co.il/news/1321899?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share&utm_campaign=article_in_bhol

They are coming up with new colors 

https://youtu.be/loQM4SGGd-k

Might need to use an Israeli server VPN to watch.

[Jacob88]

".......that it was not clear that I would be able to leave even with a negative since if anyone from the plane tested positive, I would need to be tested again and await the results of that second test."

thanks for the detailed story- its sounds crazy.
I hope they dont do that for everyone once the open up again.
Quick question though...is it true that if someone tests positive on the flight- everyone needs to be retested again???

[Yitzshpitz]

How long does it take for a vaccine recipient's status to be put in "the system" so that the vaccine card can be verified if they would check?

[ExGingi]

Does dual citizen who lives in US and is visiting Israel now currently need special permission to fly back home to the US?

[Jack out of the box]

Does dual citizen who lives in US and is visiting Israel now currently need special permission to fly back home to the US?

You probably need to apply for permission using the reason "יציאה למגורי קבע מעל לשלושים יום".