During a press conference Monday afternoon, the City of Oslo strongly encouraged people to wear face masks if traveling by bus, tram, train or train at all times, and regardless of how many people travel.
– If you are traveling by public transport, we urge you to wear a face mask, said City Councilor Raymond Johansen.
On Tuesday it was registered 28 cases of infection in the last 24 hours in Oslo. All districts has over 20 infected per 100,000, and the whole of Oslo is red.
Despite strong encouragement and increasing infection in Oslo, the minority was seen with a bandage on Tuesday morning.
– The authorities should introduce a ban on bandages so that as many people as possible use it, says Naira Lalayan (43).
For colleagues
– ORDER: Naira Lalayan (43) believes that an order is needed for more people to wear face masks in public transport. Photo: Fanny Bu / TV 2
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Lalayan believes that it was a wise decision to expand the recommendation on the use of face masks.
– I think it’s very wise. Mouthpieces are the best protection against the coronavirus, in addition to washing hands and keeping distance, and very important to limit infection, she says.
The 43-year-old believes that very few used face masks a month ago, and that the number has increased slightly since the recommendation.
– There are still far fewer people using it than is desirable.
Lalayan works as a hotel director, an industry that has been hit hard by the coronavirus.
– We have hundreds of layoffs due to the risk of infection. The faster we can get this under control, the more normal life we can live. In addition, my colleagues can return to work, she says.
Lalayan, on the other hand, does not think it is only a recommendation to wear a face mask.
– If it becomes an injunction, I have no doubt that far more will follow, she says.
FULL: There were several crowded trams in Oslo on Tuesday morning. Photo: Fanny Bu / TV 2
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The minority follows the recommendation
On the platform at Jernbanetorget on Tuesday morning, almost no one wore a face mask while waiting for the subway.
30, 40 pcs are waiting for the subway at Ryen. Only I have a face mask. Now we have to get orders, Raymond. That’s the only thing that helps.
– Axel With Gogstad (@AxelGogstad) September 22, 2020
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In an informal count TV 2 did at 8 o’clock, showed that the few did not use it on the trip either.
Of passengers in five metro cars, 24 people traveled without a face mask, while 13 people had followed the recommendation. In two of the carriages, none of the travelers wore face masks.
In another car at 7 o’clock, 4 out of 27 people followed the recommendation.
While there was relatively plenty of space in the subway cars, the trams were occasionally overcrowded. People were also queuing up for boarding and alighting. Nor did the majority use bandages there.
TRAVEL: There were many who traveled collectively from Oslo S on Tuesday morning. Photo: Fanny Bu / TV 2
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Want an extended ban
Professor of medicine Audun Helge Nerland at the University of Bergen believes that the authorities should introduce orders to use bandages on public transport, shops, shopping centers and other places where there are a lot of people throughout the country.
The reason is that he thinks people find it embarrassing to use face masks, and that is why so few use it.
– Orders are serious stuff, but people do not seem to want to wear face masks. Then I think we could have had an injunction for a certain time so that people get used to using it, says Nerland, who believes three to four weeks will have an effect.
– It is embarrassing
Nerland says that the students he teaches have told that they walk around with bandages in their bags, but that they are reluctant to use it, precisely because they think it is a bit embarrassing.
– I experience that people find it embarrassing to wear a face mask. The embarrassment disappears with an order, because then everyone must use it, he says.
He also says that employees at Haukeland University Hospital with whom he has spoken, cycle or go to work, even if it takes them an hour, to avoid public transport and wearing a bandage.
Pure lethargy
WITHOUT: Frode Fjellstad (46) traveled without a bandage on Tuesday, but has decided to go shopping. Photo: Fanny Bu / TV 2
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TV 2 tried to come and ask many about the reason why they do not wear face masks on Tuesday morning, but few wanted to answer.
Frode Fjellstad (46) was one of those who had not followed the authorities’ recommendation, and he admitted that the reason he has not gone shopping is pure lethargy.
– As long as a face mask has an effect, it is enough that you should follow the recommendation. That I have not bought myself yet is probably just out of sheer lethargy. I have to go and buy myself some face masks, he says.
Eirik Boye (32) works as a teacher, and says that he has used a bandage on public transport since the authorities issued the recommendation. He also believes that an injunction can do the same.
– I think there were quite a few who used face masks when the recommendation came, but then it has faded a bit. I think the authorities must put down a ban to get more people to use it, he says.
USER: Eirik Boye always wears a face mask when he travels collectively on his way to work. Photo: Fanny Bu / TV 2
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– Has a very large effect
In addition to the fact that Nerland experiences that people find it embarrassing to use face masks, he believes that the use of face masks is low because the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has communicated to the population that the effect of face masks is low.
FHI writes on its website that infection control measures do not replace bandages. The latest summary of knowledge that the National Institute of Public Health has done shows that a distance of 1 meter or more reduces the risk of infection by an estimated 80 percent. Mouthpieces used in the population have only an infection reduction of approximately 40 percent.
Nerland believes that face masks have a greater effect than what FHI communicates. Among other things, he believes that the authorities should look to countries such as Vietnam, Japan and South Korea for how they have handled the virus. Mouthpiece use is far more widespread.
– If a bandage stops 50 percent of the virus from a corona infection, and the person next to it also wears a bandage, the total effect will be that 75 percent of the virus volume is stopped. It is a very big effect. You do not have that double effect from a distance, he says.
He adds that using a bandage together with keeping a distance will reduce the risk of infection to a minimum.
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