Oslo City Councilor Raymond Johansen slams the action level in Norway and has clear expectations of soon relief.
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Oslo City Councilor Raymond Johansen now believes that the strain people experience is first and foremost about the measures – not about infection.
– It is very important to say that public health is about so much more than the absence of disease. Now is the time to take our lives back. Many people live much stricter than they have to. people need to live and meet and be together, says Johansen to VG.
He elaborates:
– It is allowed to meet friends, it is allowed to go out and eat and drink, it is allowed to train together and the children can have a class birthday. We have expectations and believe that in the near future it will be opened even more.
–Time to open
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Labor Party) told VG yesterday that he is not immediately ready to follow Denmark and he could not promise that the corona measures will disappear on 31 January.
“We must have some ice in our stomachs,” said the Prime Minister.
Oslo City Councilor gives clear message to his expectations from the government:
– Now we will see what comes on Tuesday, but I now urge that now is the time to open.
The Danish government has decided that they will remove corona restrictions from February 1 this year.
The The Danish Institute of Public Health justifies, among other things, the reopening with the fact that the hospital admissions are fairly stable, and that few are admitted to the intensive care unit.
High vaccination rate
Today, Johansen’s city council has decided to go to the green level in the Oslo school. He describes strong impressions from school students who have experienced pandemics almost throughout their youth.
He says that even though the infection numbers are rising – and that around at least ten percent of Oslo’s population is infected – admissions are stable, and that people become much less ill than with previous corona variants.
– Vaccine coverage in Oslo is sky high, 335,000 Oslo residents have recently received their third dose. 553,000 have received two doses. and that means they are now very well protected. Now is the time to ask if the infection should be released. It is better that the infection increases when we have such good vaccine coverage. Now is the time to dare to take life back, he says.
–The burden of the measures
The city council leader refers to Denmark, which at the turn of the month January to February repeals almost all measures – despite the fact that there is still a lot of infection in the country.
– They no longer define covid-19 as a socially critical disease and I think we are on our way to getting exactly the same picture in Norway.
– Do you think we should no longer define corona as a socially critical disease?
– If you look at the infection numbers and the other, it is an important discussion to take, whether it is a socially critical disease, he says and also refers to the subject director Frode Forland as this week stated to VG that the infection measures can cause greater strain than the disease itself.
–– It makes sense to me. We are constantly receiving reports that the number of children and young people who need help with mental problems and eating disorders is enormous. and it is a real public health problem for children and young people. And the drop-out rate from sports, the corps, volunteering is very large and that means that many people lose connection to the community and to mastery and not least here in Oslo which has had the strictest measures almost throughout the pandemic.
–– Must hang on to grips what we do
Johansen believes that the national mandate for home offices must be “looked at”, and points out that it is an intrusive measure, even though it has gone well for some.
– It is strange to have to sit in a home office all day, before you then jump in the shower and meet friends afterwards. For many, it does not seem entirely logical.
– Do you think it is logical?
– I think this is one of the measures that is certainly seen as a relief because it must depend on what we do, and sitting in a home office is a big intervention for many.
Soda and ice cream in the stomach
– Støre went out to VG yesterday and asked people to have ice in their stomachs. Many will perceive it as the opposite signal of what you are saying now?
– I want people to have both soda and ice in their stomachs, especially the children. I also perceive that the signals from the government are that there will be further relief.
– On the one hand, there are restrictions from the authorities on how many people should be in their home, and on the other hand, you are now asking people to take back their lives. These are many different messages for people to navigate by?
– You’re absolutely right. Even though we are allowed to go out and drink and eat until twelve, it is perceived by many that it is not entirely okay anyway, that it is not desirable. For Norwegians are very both trusting and law-abiding. But it’s law, and now we have to speed up that part of the social part of life. That is why it is important that political leaders like me in this city go out and say: take your lives back, take the city into use.
Johansen says that he himself will try to shake off the habits of ordering food at home, rather than go out – and that he too will become better at using the city.
– I hope I still have some friends left after two years of work around the clock, so maybe I should call around a bit to check they are still there.
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