Pardes Hanna, a town near Haifa of about 45,000 residents, suffered a coronavirus outbreak this week and is now Israel’s only orange locale.

Residents of the town are known for their “hippie” type lifestyles and many are opposed to being vaccinated against the coronavirus. Attorney Bar Kochva, a member of the Pardes Hanna-Karkur city council, told Ynet that there is a group of local residents, mostly aged 20-40, who are against the COVID vaccine and drove up the town’s infection rate.

Pardes-Hanna also has a history of residents refusing to vaccinate their children for measles, which led to a large measles outbreak in 2018.

The outbreak has led to the closure of 13 classrooms and three kindergartens in the town. Some of the students have been identified with the new Indian coronavirus variant.

A school-based coronavirus outbreak was also reported in Jerusalem on Wednesday, with 23 students in one classroom at Teddy Kollek High School in Pisgat Ze’ev testing positive for the coronavirus.

The students carrying the virus and all those who have been in contact with them have been instructed to enter quarantine.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)