Well, the lockdown was partially opened today but nobody, including the government, seems to know what we can and cannot do.
For a start, all those who got their second dose of vaccine over a week ago are supposed to get what is being called a "Green Passport", and those who don't have it are still on full lockdown, being allowed only to go to grocery stores, pharmacies, doctors, and a few other places. Those with it, can go almost everywhere but still cannot eat in restaurants. Each shop is required to check the passport before allowing anyone over the age of 16 to enter.
The passports are supposed to be issued by the Ministry of Health, but the Ministry has still not designed them, much less issued them. No problem, because you can go to the Ministry's website and download a temporary version. Wonderful -- except the Ministry's website went down shortly after the temporary ones became available. That was yesterday and the site is still offline.
I actually got my temporary one, as did Marina, before the website collapsed, and together with her two daughters, we went shopping. Polina (age 13) was chiefly interested in clothing. Olga, age 4, wanted a costume for Purim (think of it as a Jewish version of Halloween without trick or treating).
As the clothing and toy shops have been closed for about a month, and nobody knows if they will be allowed to remain open, all the malls were jam-packed and the traffic in every direction was very heavy. When we got to our favorite strip mall, nobody was checking to see if the customers had these passports.
Another rule is that no private car is allowed to have more than three people in it unless they live together -- and anyone in a car with more than one person has to wear a mask. Of course, as we were four people, and we don't live together, we were breaking the law. I wasn't overly concerned about that as we were only driving within Marina's city and I know from experience (we have had 3 previous lockdowns in the last year) that the police don't bother checking cars inside the city -- only between cities. Besides, if we were stopped I would simply say that we live together. The police would not have any way to check this.
However, where I live is near the Lebanese border and there is always high military traffic on the road. It is up to the Military Police to make certain that no soldiers are breaking the law. For all that, I was stopped by an MP on my way back from Marina's house. He told me that I was in violation of the law for not wearing a mask in the car.
He was very young and obviously very new. He was still a buck private who did not know his job at all. I informed him that the Military Police only have the right to stop civilian cars if they see soldiers in it or martial law has been declared (which was not the case here). He used his cell phone to call someone (I presume his sergeant) to see if I was telling the truth. He then told me that I was right -- but added that I should be wearing a mask and the regular police would give me a ticket if they caught me.
"I am alone in the car," I informed him. "Who do you think I can infect?"
That left him with a puzzled look on his face as I drove off.
