The announcement of a possible order for quarantine hotels has made the mayor of Lillehammer municipality look red.
– I think you could have planned this better. We have a business community that must get back on its feet and therefore quarantine hotels must be a voluntary scheme, says Ingunn Trosholmen (Labor Party) when Dagbladet calls.
She refers to a new regulation from the Ministry of Health and Care Services which states that the State Administrator can impose quarantine hotels on all municipalities this summer.
– Now we have been in a pandemic for so long and we in the municipalities are engaged in infection detection and vaccination. They already impose large enough tasks on us.
Refused to leave quarantine hotel
It was NRK which covered the case first.
– Refuse
After several meetings with the State Administrator, she received a letter on Monday in which the order was presented.
– I do not like the wording in that we were now made aware that they can impose this on us. It is a clear signal that it is our turn in the Inland to take care of it.
Earlier, Prime Minister Erna Solberg (H) announced that several municipalities will have to give up vaccine doses, nevertheless with reservations that the vaccination program should not be delayed
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– We have given away 35 percent of the vaccines in line with the government’s plan. Due to this, our mass vaccination is postponed until the joint holiday, which means that we have to recall personnel to be able to do it.
She refuses to be quarantined in addition to giving vaccines.
– We refuse! It is enough! Now it holds! We do not want quarantine hotels here this summer, says the mayor.
Hope others have capacity
– How do you make sure it does not happen?
– I have told key politicians and try to create an understanding that this is an unfortunate situation.
She justifies the choice by highlighting tourism as one of the most important business routes for Lillehammer municipality and says they are one of Norway’s largest travel destinations.
– I have an organization that needs to get a holiday. It is not just the hotel industry that is affected by this. Lillehammer is a large business region and we need to be able to look forward to a summer with full occupancy.
You can travel to these countries now – without quarantine
As a solution, she hopes that other municipalities may have better capacity and room to better cope with the problem.
– It will be better to strengthen the municipalities that have capacity, but I know that Norwegian municipalities have been on standby for a long time now. If they need replacement, one should rather strengthen the municipalities rather than just transfer the problem from one tired municipality to another.
Meets understanding
The Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency Planning (DSB) has the main responsibility for the quarantine hotel scheme and any complaints that come in. They have referred further to the State Administrator for questions about possible orders.
Asbjørn Lund, county emergency manager at the County Governor in the Inland, tells NRK that coercion will be the last resort. First, they will look at which municipalities and hotels voluntarily want a quarantine scheme.
– But it depends on the situation. If we have to order a municipality to set up a quarantine hotel, then we must do it, Lund tells NRK.
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He nevertheless shows understanding for the frustration of Trosholmen with a view to Lillehammer as a major tourist destination.
– Do not know details
On Tuesday, Dagbladet asked assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad what he thinks about this case.
– I do not know the details of how this is regulated between the State Administrator and the municipalities, but it is clear that this is primarily a problem in border municipalities, typically airport or ferry municipalities and not very many other municipalities.
Although he does not necessarily think that this will be a problem for municipalities in the Inland, he does not deny that it can happen.
Outbreaks in quarantine hotels
– But it is clear that there is a dynamic in this here, if the need for more hotel beds comes, then you must be able to use more hotels than you do today.
– Important months
The mayor’s situation meets with understanding from Nakstad, but he believes the problem will be solved in line with the vaccination towards the summer.
– I understand that the consideration for tourism and summer activities certainly trumps the consideration of being a quarantine hotel, but I think this is solved by the fact that the need for quarantine hotel may decrease in the future when more people are vaccinated and when the infection also decreases throughout Europe.
Mayor Trosholmen nevertheless believes that the issue is particularly relevant now, as we are already in June.
– We are talking about the coming months, where July and August are important. Therefore, I must say now, something I did in the meeting with the State Administrator. If you force us to do this, then I have to do something, she says.
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