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June 5th, 2021 
Awake Goy The Latest:
- 338,174 Palestinians tested positive for COVID-19; 330,016 recoveries; 3,777 deaths
- Of those who tested positive, 199,310 live in the West Bank, 110,023 live in Gaza, and 28,841 live in East Jerusalem
- 839,532 Israelis tested positive for COVID-19; 832,918 recoveries; 6,416 deaths
Even before the latest escalation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza, the pandemic had entered a tough stage for Palestinians. Every few weeks stricter closures were ordered, schools would move to virtual learning and shops would have their hours cut. When the number of cases began to decline, the economy would more or less fully reopen, cases would again increase and the cycle would repeat as it has half a dozen times since March 2020.
Yet in the weeks leading up to the outbreak of violence last month, it seemed as though the West Bank had finally found a lull, while Gaza faced an unbridled burst of new infections that were filling up ICUs. Then airstrikes started. The Hala al-Shawa Health Center, the main vaccination site and testing laboratory were damaged in bombings. Social distancing was wholesale abandoned. Health officials assumed a surge occurred but the data is only starting to reveal how extensive the spread became.
This week, testing is back up. Although at about half the rate as before (17,175 tests were conducted in all of the occupied Palestinian territory). Of those who tested positive in the last week, 84% were in Gaza and 16% in the West Bank. The World Health Organization’s latest situation report found “An average of 1,148 tests per day have been conducted over the past week,” with testing limited only to those already hospitalized for COVID-19 related symptoms. Not enough people have been tested to determine community spread, as even those experiencing symptoms but not sick enough to be admitted or unable to get to a hospital are not included. Still, Gaza’s positivity rate is around 25%, compared to the West Bank’s 5%.
The big picture: Three patients are on oxygen ventilators in the West Bank and 11 in Gaza, according to the WHO’s dashboard. In the last week, the case fatality rate, typically shorthanded as the CFR, tripled to 3.4%. Meaning there are more critical cases and deaths from COVID-19 than there were a month ago, and we have no idea how prevalent the disease is outside of hospital walls.
Vaccines arrive
Vaccine shipments were delayed from entering Gaza when the passenger and cargo checkpoints with Israel were closed in May amid the outbreak of hostilities. This week, UNICEF delivered 9,600 doses of AstraZeneca to Gaza, and last week 20,000 doses of Sinopharm entered along with 46,800 doses of Pfizer, according to the WHO.
A total of 486,900 doses of vaccines have been shipped to the West Bank, and 196,500 to Gaza, Over 300,000 in the West Bank have been vaccinated, but just 39,937 in Gaza. In total, 7% of Palestinians have been vaccinated.
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