Here they party quite legally – VG

Hammerfest municipality announced last week that they due to the very confusing situation shuts down the municipality.

– People must follow the rules. Well, it’s serious, said the rapporteur in Hammerfest, Marianne Sivertsen Næss.

Just a few days before the city closed, more than 30 people partyed in an apartment in the city, close together.

Sindre Kristiansen (19) posted a video of the party on TikTok. The video is dated May 15, six days before the city introduced a ban on private gatherings. He should not have been present at the party himself, but according to him has received the video from a friend.

The party was legal

According to the municipality, a home party is not an event. That is, the party on the video was legal. Although there are violations of recommendations, there were no rules stating that it is not allowed to party in private homes at this time.

– We believe there has been no violation of the covid-19 regulations, says mayor Næss, who has reviewed the section together with his two municipal chief physicians.

She tells VG that the wording of the national infection control law (paragraph 13) applies to private events outside the home.

– My municipal chief physicians are sure that this is not something we could enforce in private homes, she says about the party.

Law professor Hans Petter Graver confirms this.

– That’s right, it’s not an event. There are two different parts of this covid-19 regulation, says Graver who emphasizes that he does not have direct knowledge of the party in question.

The professor says that some municipalities have restrictions on visits to private homes, but that it is only a recommendation at the national level.

– So a home party is not an event?

– If there were no other circumstances around it, I would not say it. It is not covered by this with private events. It was the same with day two of Erna Solberg’s birthday, says Graver and points out that The Prime Minister was only convicted of restaurant visits.

– Does that mean that in theory you can have home parties with many participants?

– I can not answer that directly here and now without getting better acquainted with the case, says the law professor.

The Norwegian Directorate of Health: Not banned

VG also receives confirmation from the Norwegian Directorate of Health that parties in private homes did not take place as an event at this time, and were thus legal.

– It is true that this is not prohibited by regulation or law. At the same time, this is a behavior that strongly contradicts our general recommendations about keeping a distance and not meeting many people and the specific recommendation that there are a maximum of five guests in the home, says division director in the Norwegian Directorate of Health, Johan Torgersen.

– Why is it only recommended, and does not promise to party without distance at home?

– Regulating behavior in the private sphere is intrusive. National injunctions or prohibitions of this will be met very unevenly in different municipalities with different infection pressures. Prohibition of visits is best regulated locally as local infection pressure can be taken into account so that the measure is proportionate, says Torgersen.

Outbreaks in the city – 154 infected

There is now an ongoing outbreak of infection in Hammerfest. The rapporteur said on Friday that they suspect that the infection can be traced to a larger gathering on May 8 where several young people were gathered.

There are 79 new cases of infection in Hammerfest, reports mayor Marianne Sivertsen Næss at a press conference on Monday morning.

There are a total of 154 infected in the municipality. Several of them are kindergarten children.

– We must stand together. We need each other, says Næss.

She thinks they will get even more positive tests before the trend goes down again. Currently, more than 10 percent of the population is in quarantine.

Kristiansen, who has sent VG the video from the party, says that he has never seen anything like it before.

– This must be Northern Norway’s largest corona eruption. Everyone I know has been quarantined or has been diagnosed with an infection, I will not be surprised if I have been infected myself, says Kristiansen who is waiting for a test answer.

The mayor has also previously told VG that the outbreak is so large that she believes that all the inhabitants are affected in one way or another.

– Personally, I would say that this is scary. It takes so little before it goes wrong, Kristiansen adds.

Had not gone with today’s measures

From May 21 to May 25, 2021 reads the infection control regulations in Hammerfest as follows: «(…) not allowed to arrange or participate in gatherings that take place in or in connection with a private home or holiday home, and where more than five guests in addition to those living in the home are present at the same time (. ..) ».

– Now, as we have our own stricter regulations, the situation is different, says mayor Næss to VG.

Kristiansen thinks it is good that the municipality has introduced stricter measures.

– If there had been zero infection, it would have been a different matter, but considering the situation, it is good. This is a good initiative from the municipality, they should have bragged about it, says the 19-year-old.

He adds that he thinks young people will party anyway, and does not understand why young people have not been vaccinated yet.

– When there is an outbreak among young people, things go very badly, says Kristiansen and refers to the outbreak.

– It’s pretty scary really.

Wondering what rules apply where you live? VG continuously monitors Norway’s municipalities in order to provide a complete overview. Search for your municipality here. We reserve the right to make delays or errors in the updates.

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