Anti-vaxxer causes mass-infection in special needs kindergarten

An anti-vaxxer was the source of a mass-infection of COVID-19 in a special needs kindergarten in Ra’anana last week, Ynet reported.

The infection was discovered when the kindergarten teacher wrote in the parents’ WhatsApp group that one of the staff had been infected, and so all the children needed to be put in isolation.

“It was the last week of kindergarten in any case, so we all immediately got tested and went into isolation,” one of the mothers told Ynet.

But another mother, who has twins in the kindergarten, refused to isolate her kids.

“I refuse to put the children into isolation, and I won’t get them tested,” she wrote in the WhatsApp group. “I won’t take part in this madness, I’m sorry, it’s enough.”

After a short argument with her ex-husband in the WhatsApp group, the ex-husband wrote: “Get well soon, Nurit. I hope you’re recovering well from COVID-19.” The woman immediately left the group.

The next day, the parents received the results of their kids’ tests, and many of them were positive.

“We went back through the messages and realized that she was the one who infected them,” a different mother told Ynet. “We went into her Facebook and discovered that she clearly wrote there that she has been sick since the 9th. She still sent her twins to kindergarten. They’re also infected now.” 

Jerusalem’s new Shalva National Center for children with disabilities. (credit: SHALVA)

The other parents were outraged. “The kids in this kindergarten are taught that their lives will be tangled with difficult experiences,” a mother told Ynet.

“One moment before they are meant to go on holiday, this woman ruins it for everyone. How can a person do that? To endanger the kids, their families and the staff that gives their heart and soul to these children? There’s a teacher there who is over 70 [years old].”

The mother added that she also blames the ex-husband. “It doesn’t matter that they’re separated. He cooperated with her.”

The mother filed a complaint with the police against the infected woman, who she says constantly posts anti-vaxxer posts on Facebook and has called the coronavirus pandemic a scam.

The kindergarten teacher reported the infected woman and filed a complaint against her to the Education Ministry.

Another parent at the kindergarten told Ynet that they didn’t sleep that night because of their anger and frustration.

“More than we worried about the kids, we worried about the staff,” the father said. “There are elderly people there, and a pregnant woman. Throughout the pandemic, they worked for the kids because they need a routine. This kindergarten has no masks because of its unique nature, and no social distancing and the staff agreed to take the risk. It’s a staff of angels.”

The father added that the staff took it very hard because they could not believe they were put in this position after everything they do for the kids.

He also told Ynet that there were other incidents with the infected woman where she did not heed the restrictions and was told off many times.

In a statement to Ynet, the infected woman said that she was infected by a vaccinated woman and reported it to the Health Ministry.

“I’ve been sitting at home for two weeks. I got seriously ill, and I haven’t seen my kids,” she said. “They’ve been with their father, not me. 

“The Israeli people have become a people of snitches. I have no connection to the outbreak in the kindergarten. My kids have a carer, and he’s also sick. He’s a vaccinated person who infected my mother and my kids. I am not vaccinated, and I got to the point where I was on the verge of death.”

The woman added that her kids “were part of a vaccination experiment conducted by pharmaceutical companies. That’s why they have autism. It’s true about all the kids in the kindergarten.”

The kindergartens do not yet have a date for reopening and are expected to be kept closed until after Rosh Hashana.

The Education Ministry meanwhile reported that any teacher who is unvaccinated and untested will not be allowed to enter the schools.