Eleven months into the pandemic and people in most parts of the world are still working from home, including our very own Ira Estrin, who is in Israel. She and her family have transformed parts of their home into spaces suitable for work and study. The transition from working in an office or academic space to working from home has brought the family closer together and has given them more opportunities to connect, as there is more flexibility and free time in everyone’s schedules. Because Ira works frequently with Datonics teams in North America and is very hands-on with ensuring that advertisers receive the custom segments and data plans that they need, she is a “night owl” and her teammates are always amazed at how she gets it all done!
Although the increase in family time has been wonderful, Ira often thinks of the day she will be able to return to the office and other pre-COVID activities. Returning to the bakery, the gym, hanging out after work with co-workers, the list goes on. She is optimistic that the day will come soon as Israel has recently ended its third lockdown and the COVID vaccine is being issued throughout the country.
Israel is currently leading in vaccinations as 35% of the country has already received the first dose and 27% have received both doses, resulting in a 94% drop in symptomatic COVID cases. Even though they are producing good results so far, Israel has not been very successful with exit strategy plans with the first two lockdowns. In the last two exits, people have rushed to reopen and return to pre-pandemic life quickly, which has raised the case count.
Now that the vaccine is here and widely available, the people of Israel may be able to return to normal very, very soon meaning Ira will be back to life as she remembers.