Israel And Ben Gurion COVID-19 Reopening Master Thread

[m65]

a customer of mine just skipped the pcr in ben gurion an hour ago.
He walked straight thru the main exit, there was a guy sitting there but he wasnt checking anyones bracelets

[S209]

a customer of mine just skipped the pcr in ben gurion an hour ago.
He walked straight thru the main exit, there was a guy sitting there but he wasnt checking anyones bracelets

I know someone who did that, but I was asked for a bracelet as was everyone around me when we went through. I’m pretty sure nothing would happen if they “caught” you, you’d just have to go back on the (pretty short) line to get tested.

[Yosel]

FYI
Entered this morning Ben Gurion airport at 6:15am for my 10:30 flight, was at the lounge 6:50am
Don’t know why they have us come so early.
שוין וואס קען טוהן מיר זענען אין גלות

[Jacob88]

FYI
Entered this morning Ben Gurion airport at 6:15am for my 10:30 flight, was at the lounge 6:50am
Don’t know why they have us come so early.
שוין וואס קען טוהן מיר זענען אין גלות

The departure lines at BG have been around 3hours+ and flights have been getting delayed. Glad to hear your experience was positive and trouble free.

[m65]

I know someone who did that, but I was asked for a bracelet as was everyone around me when we went through.

the main exit is basically pot luck, depending on who is sitting there

I’m pretty sure nothing would happen if they “caught” you

u are 100% correct

[arielallon]

Couldn't find this answer elsewhere in the forums, nor on corona.health.gov.il / chaimvchessed.com / amudim.org. If I missed it somewhere, my apologies.

For non-Israeli citizens, for the requirement of "Take a PCR test in the 72 hours before the flight or arrival at the Israeli border crossing", how is "72 hours before the flight" defined?

Specifically, if we are flying from the US to TLV with a 4.5 hour layover in IST, is it 72 hours before the departure of the US -> IST flight? Or 72 hours before the departure of the IST -> TLV flight?

Either way, what happens if one of those flights is delayed such that it actually departs after 72 hours since the time of a negative test?

[m65]

Couldn't find this answer elsewhere in the forums, nor on corona.health.gov.il / chaimvchessed.com / amudim.org. If I missed it somewhere, my apologies.

For non-Israeli citizens, for the requirement of "Take a PCR test in the 72 hours before the flight or arrival at the Israeli border crossing", how is "72 hours before the flight" defined?

Specifically, if we are flying from the US to TLV with a 4.5 hour layover in IST, is it 72 hours before the departure of the US -> IST flight? Or 72 hours before the departure of the IST -> TLV flight?

Either way, what happens if one of those flights is delayed such that it actually departs after 72 hours since the time of a negative test?

all of your tzaros can go away with a free 1 month trial with adobe
its way more likely to work than donating $100 a month for 36 months to vaad harabanim

[Kobe Bryant]

Couldn't find this answer elsewhere in the forums, nor on corona.health.gov.il / chaimvchessed.com / amudim.org. If I missed it somewhere, my apologies.

For non-Israeli citizens, for the requirement of "Take a PCR test in the 72 hours before the flight or arrival at the Israeli border crossing", how is "72 hours before the flight" defined?

Specifically, if we are flying from the US to TLV with a 4.5 hour layover in IST, is it 72 hours before the departure of the US -> IST flight? Or 72 hours before the departure of the IST -> TLV flight?

Either way, what happens if one of those flights is delayed such that it actually departs after 72 hours since the time of a negative test?

“ 1. Take a PCR test in the 72 hours before the flight or arrival at the Israeli border crossing. You must present an official document with the negative test result and your passport number.
If your itinerary includes a connecting flight to Israel and the layover time between the first flight and the flight landing in Israel is more than 24 hours, you are required to take the PCR test in the 72 hours before the departure of the flight landing in Israel.” Ministry Of Health.

[arielallon]

Thanks.

"If your itinerary includes a connecting flight to Israel and the layover time between the first flight and the flight landing in Israel is more than 24 hours, you are required to take the PCR test in the 72 hours before the departure of the flight landing in Israel."

So my natural reading of that is if the layover is not more than 24 hours, we are not required to take the PCR test in the 72 hours before the departure of the flight landing in Israel. In other words, in my example above, we are ok with a test 72 hours before the departure of the initial flight out of the US.

My programmer brain is saying "well, it didn't say 'if and only if', etc etc" but I guess I'm being too paranoid

(As an aside, I guess that means that, in theory, if I had a 20 hour flight, then a 23 hour layover, and then another 8 hour flight to Israel, I could get my negative covid PCR 123 hours before I land in Israel  )

[S209]

Specifically, if we are flying from the US to TLV with a 4.5 hour layover in IST, is it 72 hours before the departure of the US -> IST flight?

This

[Geshmakeh Chulent Fresser]

Family of 7 arrived in TLV late Tuesday night (after 2:00 AM).  6 PCR tests taken at airport came back negative, but one child came back positive (child has zero symptoms and PCR test before departure was negative).  Just received an email from someone at the Ministry of Health asking me to contact them.  Are they actually enforcing this or can I just ignore the email and hope for the best?  What's the worst that can happen?  The thought of staying put in an apartment with a nine year old for 5 days is making me queasy.   

[tavster]

Family of 7 arrived in TLV late Tuesday night (after 2:00 AM).  6 PCR tests taken at airport came back negative, but one child came back positive (child has zero symptoms and PCR test before departure was negative).  Just received an email from someone at the Ministry of Health asking me to contact them.  Are they actually enforcing this or can I just ignore the email and hope for the best?  What's the worst that can happen?  The thought of staying put in an apartment with a nine year old for 5 days is making me queasy.

For Israelis they are still enforcing, with Police driving to homes etc. Not sure about foreigners.

[AsherO]

Family of 7 arrived in TLV late Tuesday night (after 2:00 AM).  6 PCR tests taken at airport came back negative, but one child came back positive (child has zero symptoms and PCR test before departure was negative).  Just received an email from someone at the Ministry of Health asking me to contact them.  Are they actually enforcing this or can I just ignore the email and hope for the best?  What's the worst that can happen?  The thought of staying put in an apartment with a nine year old for 5 days is making me queasy.   

Considering the 5 days cuts into Pesach that’s really challenging, my heart goes out to you.

OTOH COVID can spread asymptomatically and could infect other family members who can go on to infect others. Consider PCR testing the quarantined child daily, perhaps they’ll start testing negative sooner and can exit quarantine.

[BarryLincoln]

Family of 7 arrived in TLV late Tuesday night (after 2:00 AM).  6 PCR tests taken at airport came back negative, but one child came back positive (child has zero symptoms and PCR test before departure was negative).  Just received an email from someone at the Ministry of Health asking me to contact them.  Are they actually enforcing this or can I just ignore the email and hope for the best?  What's the worst that can happen?  The thought of staying put in an apartment with a nine year old for 5 days is making me queasy.

This happened to me personally in November.  First, I would get a second test to confirm the original wasn't a false positive.  There is a chance they may check on the child to ensure bidud is being followed, but not likely.  If caught bidud, there was a fine of 5000 shekels and 5-year ban on entering Israel (not sure if that's the case anymore).

In addition, because the positive test taken at the airport is tied to your passport number and blue printed visa, they made it very difficult for me to leave Israel without getting a formal MOH letter saying that I recovered. This was the case in November around Thanksgiving - not sure what current policy is. 

This may also present a challenge when you are returning to the US and need to get a negative test to board a plane back (some may advocate an adobe test, which only you can decide if you're willing to risk it). 

Bottom line is that there are implications to a positive test.  You need to think about the risks involved because if your child is positive, they can theoretically infect others. 

[AsherO]

if your child is positive, they can theoretically infect others.

FTFY, maybe the odds aren’t known, but it isn’t 0%.

[S209]

FTFY, maybe the odds aren’t known, but it isn’t 0%.

If it’s a lingering positive from an infection in the last month or two then it’s quite possible the chance is 0%.


To which point, has the child had COVID in the very recent past?

[AsherO]

If it’s a lingering positive from an infection in the last month or two then it’s quite possible the chance is 0%.

Agreed. Dad didn’t say anything to imply that might be the case.

[Yosel]

In addition, because the positive test taken at the airport is tied to your passport number and blue printed visa, they made it very difficult for me to leave Israel without getting a formal MOH letter saying that I recovered. This was the case in November around Thanksgiving - not sure what current policy is. 
   

was not the case then, and not the case now IME

[justaregularguy]

can someone help- we lost a suitcase and its been a week already. the ticket we opened with luafer aviation in ben gurion possibly had the wrong suitcase number. we now know which suitcase number is missing. JFK showed us a screenshot that the missing suitcase was bulk loaded as opposed to container loaded, so that very likely caused the problem.

does anyone have expeirence w losing baggae in ben gurion, or experience working w luafer aviation?

[Dan]

can someone help- we lost a suitcase and its been a week already. the ticket we opened with luafer aviation in ben gurion possibly had the wrong suitcase number. we now know which suitcase number is missing. JFK showed us a screenshot that the missing suitcase was bulk loaded as opposed to container loaded, so that very likely caused the problem.

does anyone have expeirence w losing baggae in ben gurion, or experience working w luafer aviation?

We had a lost bag in TLV once. LX paid us very handsomely for it when it showed up half empty, though we had no Shavuos clothes.