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Didrik Brekke Hansen (28) has lived and worked for TrustPilot company in Copenhagen for the last six years.
He and his girlfriend Lydia Nguyen (26) booked flights to Norway three days before the government introduced the new measures, which means they now have to stay in quarantine hotels for the first ten days. This will cost them 5,000 crowns, plus food and drink.
– What effect does the government expect it to have on the pressure of infection in Norway, that Norwegians will be placed in quarantine hotels rather than being alone at home with family or quarantined in a separate suitable place of residence? Hansen asks.
You feel unwanted in your own land.
The couple, who have their entire family in Norway, booked plane tickets home until November 28, so they could sit for ten days with a quarantined home office in the cabin.
– Then we would have had three weeks with the family at Christmas, Hansen tells TV 2.
Developed for students
When the new measures came in last week, there were still some exceptions. Among other things, those who own a house, do a job or are registered in Norway should be able to leave the expensive hotel quarantine.
This made Norwegian students in Denmark and Sweden despair. To study in these countries, you must transfer your registered address to the country of study. Therefore, they were not included in any of the exceptions presented by the government.
On Wednesday, on the other hand, the students were happy to praise themselves when the government told them that they too would have to spend ten days in expensive quarantined hotels when they returned home for the Christmas holidays.
I met strong reactions
Although many students applauded the change, many Norwegian workers now remain as big questions. They don’t understand how the government can discriminate against them from students.
On the Facebook page “Norwegians in Copenhagen” with around 10,000 members, there were hundreds of frustrated Norwegians who reacted strongly to the fact that they were not included in the exception.
– What separates me from the students in Denmark, and the release from the hotel quarantine in Norway, is a student card, says Ingeborg Himle Matland (28) on TV 2.
Ingeborg Himle Matland (28) can’t imagine sitting alone in a quarantined hotel on Christmas Eve. Photo: Private
She continues:
– Of course, I will carry out the quarantine when I return home to Norway, but I find the requirement of hotel quarantine difficult. If one can document a suitable place of residence when entering Norway, this could be a solution.
Like Didrik Brekke Hansen, he had also booked plane tickets home for Christmas well in advance.
Now she is not sure if the plane will work and, if so, if she will use the ticket to stay alone in quarantined hotels.
Uncertain Christmas celebration
Matland is aware that the measures are temporary, but does not look forward to the holiday celebration when infection rates rise every day.
– I can’t imagine having to sit alone in a quarantine hotel on Christmas Eve. It is a period you want to spend with your family, he says.
Neither she nor Didrik Brekke Hansen understand how the government can discriminate against Norwegian citizens in this way. They hope that the government can allow Norwegian citizens to refer to a suitable place to stay for the quarantine period.
– Crucial for further development
The Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness, on the other hand, disagrees with which is the most suitable place to stay in terms of infection control.
On behalf of the ministry, spokesperson Andreas Skjøld-Lorange responds to this in an email to TV 2:
“The introduction of quarantine hotels is one of several measures to reduce the pressure of infection and reduce the spread of imports. The Ministry understands well that this is perceived as frustrating for people who want to come to Norway now. Health authorities they have believed that we must take steps to strengthen compliance with quarantine requirements. We are now at a crossroads where the decisions we make in the future will be decisive for the development of the infection. “
Andreas Skjøld-Lorange, Communications Advisor to the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness. Photo: The Government
– Not possible at this time
The ministry says the aim of the austerity measures is to fight the virus so that one can open up later, if the infection situation.
At the moment it will not be possible, but we must return to that in early December.
– Norwegian students in other Nordic countries are still considered to be residents of Norway, although, due to special Nordic rules on population registration, they are registered as residents in the country of study. Therefore, we guarantee equal treatment of Norwegian citizens. Therefore, Norwegian students in Denmark receive the same treatment as Norwegian students in other countries, at the same time that Norwegian employees in Denmark are treated as employees in other countries.
Several of the people with whom TV 2 has been in contact refer to the Gender Equality Law, article 98, of the Constitution:
“All are equal before the law”. This provision is a codification of the applicable law and means that “the legislature shall not have the right to grant privileges to certain persons or groups in society.”
– Is there a legal basis in law to avoid this?
– The obligation to stay in quarantined hotels applies to all those not covered by the exceptions. Health authorities have believed that this is a necessary and proportionate measure that can be taken on the basis of the Infection Control Act, responds Skjøld-Lovange in the email.
