They express great concern about the infection situation in their municipalities and pressure on the health care system, and call for a clear national strategy for pandemic management in the time ahead.
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In a letter to the Norwegian Directorate of Health, the mayors in the Bergen area request that national corona measures be introduced. The letter was first mentioned by NRK.
In the letter, they write that they are very worried about the situation, and what the consequences may be if measures are not implemented. The mayors describe a very pressured situation for the health service, where capacity is being reached in many areas. They point to a number of factors:
- Rising infection in the region
- Lots of infection in households
- Large influx of patients with other respiratory symptoms and RS virus
- High number of sick leave in the health care system
- Challenging to have the capacity to carry out vaccination
- Yellow emergency in the hospitals
To the Norwegian Directorate of Health, they express several clear expectations, and believe that the entire strategy for corona management should now be changed.
The municipalities believe it is necessary for the Ministry of Health and Care Services to implement national measures. Local calls and advice have little effect as the situation is now.
They believe that the effect of advice and recommendations is small and that the factual basis for initiating reopening in September has changed significantly. The mayors also describe a situation where the public is critical of the introduction of local measures that are stricter than the national ones.
They also call for greater flexibility in the vaccination of those over 65 years of age.
Haukeland University Hospital has described a very demanding situation high demand and high sickness absence the last few months.
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