Israel's Shaar Ha'aliya Camp through the Lens of COVID-19: Does the History of Quarantine Matter?

Abstract

Immigrants and Disease at Israel's Gate, I explore the problems with the public health defense of Shaar Ha'aliya's enclosure 4 I focus on the evident contradiction in the fact that neither the barbed wire fence nor the police guard actually prevented people from coming in and out of the camp "5 Moreover, the main ailments found and tracked in Shaar Ha'aliya were trachoma, tuberculosis, syphilis, head lice, and scabies 6 None of these were deemed "quarantinable" in Israel at the time 7 The Shaar Ha'aliya administration knew that the breaches were a regular occurrence, but they did not see them as evidence that the quarantine was failing nor that the barbed wire fence and police should be removed The English word quarantine is derived from quaranta the Italian word for 40 8 In public health policy today, there is a notable distinction between quarantine and isolation Quarantine is the time when someone who has potentially been exposed to a communicable disease is kept isolated for a period of observation to see whether symptoms of disease actually do develop 9 In some cases, quarantine is imposed to protect a person who is already sick, as a measure to protect a weak immune system from the dangers of other infection