Extremely difficult decisions – VG

Monday night introduced Oslo the most stringent measures since the start of the pandemic. It is forbidden to have visits from more than two guests and most grade levels have home school left.

The closure of schools was done across infection control councils from the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH), which believed that a “red level” was mainly enough.

But city council leader Raymond Johansen (Labor Party) defends the school closure and says that they could have gone even further.

– Was it at any time relevant to go even further in school closure than you did?

– We also considered it, yes. It is absolutely right. To that extent, kindergartens were also part of the assessment. But we ended up with this.

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Closed school stages

One of the measures was fully digital teaching and home schooling in upper secondary and upper secondary schools, in addition to closed kindergartens during the Easter week.

There will also be a home school for 5th to 7th grade for all schools in several hard-hit districts.

– We ended up where we ended up because we have seen a sharp increase in infection in the age group 16-19 years, but also in middle school age, which had actually increased even more, says Johansen.

The seas: Therefore, FHI warned against closing down the schools

He emphasizes that the advice from FHI on school closure changed during Sunday.

– It brings out the extremely difficult and complicated decision that the city council had to make, says Johansen.

Kristin Oudmayer, Director of Children’s Rights and Sustainability at UNICEF Norway, writes in an e-mail to VG that it is criticizing the closure of schools contrary to professional assessments from FHI.

Johansen tells VG that we are in the most serious situation we have done in the pandemic. The big x-factor now is whether people follow the measures.

– Are you worried that people will not comply with the measures?

– I am especially worried about children and young people who are tired and tired, he says.

Will go further

The leader of the Education Association in Oslo, Aina Skjefstad Andersen, would like to see the measures go even further, according to Educational news.

She tells VG that the kindergartens should also have been closed, preferably until Easter.

– The mutated virus infects children and employees are exposed to infection. In the kindergarten you can not keep a meter distance. The work requires closeness between children and adults, she tells VG.

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– The Education Association in Oslo says they are unsure whether the measures go far enough. Are you sure you are going far enough in closing schools?

– Something I have learned after a year of pandemic is that the dumbest thing you can say is that you are safe. What we are really dealing with is trying to influence people’s movement patterns and contact points, which are very demanding. So no, I understand that it is a discussion, says Johansen.

– FHI thinks maybe we went too far, then there are many who went too short. So Nakstad thinks it was good enough, says Johansen.

Discussed to the end

This weekend, the City Council had to sit down at full speed and assess whether the measures were sufficient. Oslo has three weekly meetings with the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH).

But from Friday to Monday, the meetings were daily.

The city council called for a press conference at 6 pm on Monday, but had to postpone by half an hour. They did not finish.

– There were discussions until then, says health councilor Robert Steen.

According to VG’s information, a number of different alternatives and measures were on the table until Monday.

One of the measures the city council abandoned should have been to close one-on-one services, such as hairdressers and salons.

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– Not understood the seriousness

On the same day that the city council presented the measures, the capital received a new infection record with 367 registered cases, according to the municipality’s own figures. But it is not the infection rates that worry health councilor Robert Steen the most.

He says that there were 121 hospitalized in Oslo on Monday.

– We are worried about the number of admissions. There were 121 hospitalized in Oslo yesterday. The old “record” is from March / April last year, with 142. The numbers are now on the rise, he says.

The previous record is from March / April last year, with 142 and it will probably be passed within a few days.

The Health Council believes the situation is as challenging as a year ago, if not more.

– I wonder if we are in a situation where many have not fully understood the seriousness. I understand that. Many people think that the coronavirus is the same, but it is not. The mutated varieties change everything, he says.

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