• Omri Shental, Ilan Y Mitchnik, Edward Barayev, Lior Solomon, Liron Gershovitz, Shaul Gelikas, Avi Benov, and Yuval Ran.
• Medical Corps, Surgeon General's Headquarters, Israel Defense Forces, Ramat Gan, Israel.
• Isr Med Assoc J. 2022 Sep 1; 24 (9): 564-569.

BackgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) led to two nationwide lockdowns in Israel, reducing both supply and demand for medical services in the Israel Defense Force (IDF). IDF soldiers serve on bases within Israel, and most of them return home at the end of the day, similar to other armies in the world.ObjectivesTo analyze the health services provided by the IDF with regard to policy changes during lockdowns.MethodsWe compared medical encounters between different services provided by the IDF Medical Corps. We related them to specific time periods: pre-first lockdown, first lockdown (and corresponding timeframes of the previous 3 years), between lockdowns, second lockdown, and post-second lockdown.ResultsCompared to past periods, we found a similar reduction of 27-30% in primary care medical encounter rates during the two lockdowns: 42-43% in sick days and 50-54% in referrals to the emergency department. Referral rates to all specialist medical encounters and elective surgeries decreased significantly during the first lockdown period and increased 1.2-3.5 times during the second lockdown.ConclusionsA continuance of the shift to telehealth is required to withstand a future lockdown, with a full supply of secondary medical services attuned to core medical issues relevant for combat personnel. A liberal sick leave policy is required to eliminate unnecessary in-person visits, thus reducing the risk of infection.

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