For the past two years, the National Institute of Public Health and the Norwegian Directorate of Health have been working around the clock to deal with pandemics.
They have answered 574 assignments from the Ministry of Health and Care Services and participated in over 200 press conferences.
– It has been hectic. Time goes by very fast when you have so much to do, says Espen Rostrup Nakstad, assistant health director.
– FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE: In March 2020, Espen Rostrup Nakstad attended his first press conference as acting assistant health director. Photo: Ørn E. Borgen / NTB
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– We have made many mistakes
In March 2020, the then government introduced the most intrusive measures Norway has had in peacetime. Schools, kindergartens and universities closed down and a number of contact-reducing measures were introduced.
Since then, we have been through both closure and reopening. Nakstad now admits that some of the measures should have been eased earlier.
– We have made many mistakes in this pandemic. Probably some infection control measures have been maintained for too long when the pandemic has come under control, says Nakstad.
Norwegian schools were completely or partially closed for nine weeks in the spring of 2020. This is something Nakstad points to as one of the biggest mistakes they have made so far in the pandemic.
– You could have opened schools a little earlier and maybe been faster because the infection disappeared from Norway quite effectively towards the summer, Nakstad says.
At the same time, this was a difficult assessment to make as there was great uncertainty about how much infection there actually was in Norway.
– We did not know then how much infection there was, we did not have testing near what we have today, so there were very large dark numbers, says Nakstad.
– DEMANDING DECISIONS: It has been demanding to consider when to close down and open up. Photo: Christine Skarstein Olsen / TV 2
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Too slow
Both in the autumn of 2020 and the autumn of 2021, a large increase in infection was seen in Norway. Nakstad believes that these waves of infection should have been beaten down earlier.
– We have been too slow to throw ourselves around and think about infection control again when the infection has increased over the autumn both last year and this year, Nakstad says.
He thinks this is something several countries have had problems with.
– When things go well, you relax. It is important that you get a mental break from the pandemic, but it is easy to fall behind when it starts to increase again, says Nakstad.
– INFECTION RECORD: This autumn, a number of infection records have been set. Photo: Elias Engevik / TV 2
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After almost two years of pandemic management, Nakstad believes that the health authorities have become better at assessing which measures are effective and how long they should last.
– How important is it for you not to hold on too long to the measures we have now?
– It is very important not to maintain measures longer than necessary, not least when you have vaccines and other tools that are effective. It is easier to be targeted and short-term with measures now than it was two years ago, says Nakstad.
Long list of improvement points
NIPH director Camilla Stoltenberg points out preparedness as something that should have been better.
– I’m pretty sure we could have done things differently and better. We have a long list of things we want to prepare in the emergency system. This does not mean that it is bad, but that it can be much better, says Stoltenberg.
– CONSEQUENCES: The NIPH director thinks a lot about those who are hardest hit by shutdowns and restrictions. Photo: Christine Skarstein Olsen / TV 2
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At the same time, there has been little time to go back and look more closely at how the pandemic could have been handled better.
– I have not looked back that way. Now it’s about dealing with this in a correct and wise way, says Stoltenberg.
This creates new challenges
Several of FHI’s modeling showed early on that there could be a big winter wave this year. In a note published in May, FHI presented two different scenarios for Christmas 2021, “Merry Christmas” and “Mutated Christmas”.
It was not a “merry Christmas”, but rather a new shutdown, record high infection rates and a new infectious variant.
Stoltenberg admits that there are several things you could have done differently to be better prepared for this winter wave. At the same time, the new virus mutation has turned most things upside down.
– There are certainly things we could have done better and the future will show that, but as it looks to me now, it is especially omikron that has made the challenges so great that there is a need for strict measures, says Stoltenberg.
Would have done two things differently
Could have implemented measures earlier
Health director Bjørn Guldvog thinks it is difficult to speculate on what could have been done to prevent the current infection situation.
– It would have been possible to implement measures earlier, but it is questionable whether there had been acceptance of it in the population. And if people had thought it would have been proportionate. Here you have to weigh between very many considerations, says Guldvog.
He also thinks a lot about the health workers who have been working for almost two years.
– They do a fantastic job, and have worked through the pandemic with the risk of getting sick themselves, and have gone further than what is natural to expect from them, says Guldvog.
– Has enough been done for the health service through the pandemic?
– I do not believe. I think we can do more, and we should be generous with each other, says Guldvog.
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