Oslo is tightening its grip on schools and penetrating far into private life. The third wave of infection washes over the city and the big question is: Will the measures work this time, or will the dam burst?
NEW MEASURES: City councilor Raymond Johansen (center), city councilor for health, the elderly and citizen services Robert Steen (right) and city councilor for upbringing and knowledge Inga Marte Thorkildsen informs about the corona situation and what measures will apply in the future in Oslo. Photo: Berit Roald / NTB view more
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Published
Monday, March 15, 2021 – 22:22
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Yet again City Councilor Raymond Johansen (Labor Party) had to bring out the strict stone face and present tough decisions and measures. It’s only been a week since he stood in the same place with a similar message. On Monday, the pressure on the inhabitants was further increased. According to Johansen, it is tough, difficult, but also necessary.
NEW MEASURES: Raymond Johansen presents the new measures for Oslo. view more
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The city council leader has the numbers on their side. Mutated viruses have given rise to a contagion that threatens to overwhelm healthcare and test capacity. If the latest measures do not work, infection and disease in the capital can get out of control. From there, it will quickly encapsulate the rest of the country in covid-19. Most critical is the test capacity:
– Remember this: The prerequisite for us to have control over this situation is that the entire device with testing, isolation, infection tracking and quarantine works. If the infection becomes too high, over too long a time, we risk the system kneeling. Then we lose control, said City Councilor Raymond Johansen.
A few hours later, Minister of Health Bent Øie went out with similar concerns. The whole of Viken, from Halden to Geilo, now has the strictest national level of measures.
Both the city council, the government and the health authorities have long held back measures that affect children and young people, especially schools. Now the infection picture is such that they no longer have much choice. According to health councilor Robert Steen in Oslo, the infection increases most in the youngest age groups, from 6 – 12 years. Between 30 and 40 per cent report that the place of infection is now kindergartens and schools.
In the short term, the consequence of the measures is that Oslo will more and more resemble a ghost town. The most important austerity measures are:
Full-time digital school for secondary and upper secondary school until Easter.
Home school for fifth to seventh grade in districts with the most infection.
Prohibition of more than two visitors in private homes.
Closed kindergartens and activity schools during the Easter week.
INCREASED INFECTION: Raymond Johansen closes schools in Oslo due to increased infection. view more
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Also these the measures will have an unknown effect. No one knows for sure where the youth will stay when the school is closed. The City Council has no answer on how the ban on visits by more than two people to the home should be enforced or punished.
Regulating life in people’s homes is a very intrusive measure that is approaching the curfew. Yesterday, City Councilor Johansen could not explain the legal basis for a restriction that is not an invitation, but a criminal prohibition.
It is not credible, but on the other hand reprehensible, that the city council has no secure legal basis for such a regulation of privacy. Should the police enforce the ban, and how will it happen? By outreach activities and random sampling? By reviews from the audience? According to the city council leader, the form of reaction will be fines, but he does not know anything more now.
Uncertainty is a recurring theme throughout the fight against covid-19. The health authorities know that the sum of measures works, but not which ones are most effective, or which work together with others.
Just a week ago, the city council leader appeared as worried as now. He now gives a very simple explanation of why it needs to be tightened again: The English mutant virus. It has changed all the rules of the game and therefore requires stricter measures.
Raymond has it Johansen right in. But is there any knowledge the city council did not have a week ago? The story of the mutants is unpleasant for both politicians and the health authorities. At first we were told that it would be knocked down and isolated. Then that it was possible to keep under control. We are now being prepared for the mutant to overwhelm the barricades that have been built to prevent the spread.
No one can claim that the role as a responsible politician or as a health authority is easy in such an unpredictable situation as a pandemic with a mutating virus. When the infection and the measures wave back and forth, some questions must still be asked whether the system itself is robust.
One of them concerns the legislation that regulates the authorities’ framework when it comes to measures. In particular, the requirement that the measures must be proportionate, ie that they cannot be implemented if less intrusive measures would have given the same or better result. It is constantly cited by politicians as a justification for not using a stronger or more coherent, preventive strategy. It may seem that the precautionary principle is not applicable in a pandemic.
The decisions contain moreover, one element that rarely comes to the surface: the political factor. Although the health authorities’ advice and knowledge weigh heavily, they should also be considered in a political context. What can the people tolerate before they turn to politicians? Where are the most sensitive conflicts? For example. in terms of geographical distribution of vaccines.
Politics in the age of the pandemic is complex and demanding because so many new ones are at stake if the government does not find the important balance points.
