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– Of course, it was mainly in March, especially when we worked with access to infection control equipment. It could have really gone wrong there. There were several weeks in which I was extremely worried, says Health and Care Services Minister Bent Høie (H) to NTB.
– Did you sleep at night?
– I slept at night, but I had some nights when I had to wake up on the phone to follow the stopovers of the cargo planes that came with equipment. See that they kept the flight, and that they were not detained in the countries where they stopped.
The Minister of Health summarizes some of what he has experienced in the last year. In reality, he was about to resign from high-level politics when he had a global pandemic in his lap. He had said no to a new term as a Parliamentary Representative and Conservative deputy leader and yes to work as county governor in Rogaland.
– A new virus has emerged
Then an email appeared in January.
– The first thing I remember is a forwarded email from the National Institute of Public Health. They had received information that a new virus had emerged in China, which had the potential to spread to the population.
In reality, it was then-Minister of Public Health Terje Søviknes (Frp) who had the main responsibility for preparing for the Norwegian pandemic. But when the FRP left government on January 20, Høie was left with the responsibility of leading the health service during the pandemic.
– At that moment, we didn’t realize how violent it was going to be. The assessment by FHI and the World Health Organization was that this was probably something they could be able to isolate in China.
Infection control nightmare
When images from Italy a couple of months later showed a European country with a healthcare system in crisis, the severity increased. It quickly became apparent that Norway had too little infection control equipment to deal with such an outbreak.
And when deliveries were finally on their way by plane, there was a real danger that the equipment could be stolen on the road, according to the health minister.
– Besides losing control of the spread of the infection, it was my biggest nightmare. To get into a situation where you had to tell employees that we ask you to go to work, but unfortunately we cannot protect you from this infection, says Høie.
– Extremely stressful
Describes the last year as “extremely stressful.”
– It has been very demanding. It’s hard. You’re constantly sitting with measures that you know have significant negative consequences, while having very little knowledge of how effective they really are, Høie says.
The government’s decision to shut down the country on March 12 was somewhat blind.
– We had great hope and great faith that it would have the effect we wanted, but we didn’t know. And we knew the negative effect it could have, says Høie.
Not everyone has been equally enthusiastic about the measures. Høie scratched the paint off the crown when Aftenposten recently revealed angry SMS from Norwegian industry to the Ministry of Health and Care Services before migrant workers were granted an exemption from quarantine rules.
– The tone of the text messages really says very little. I think there has been a pretty strong tone in the text messages that have gone from sports and other teams to other ministries as well, Høie says.
Christmas at the cottage
Now the Minister of Health looks to the future. It’s about vaccination, which is scheduled to start at the end of the week. And worry about what happens with the infection during Christmas and New Years. The increase in infection and the mutated variant of the coronavirus have required continuous evaluations throughout Christmas.
Høie even stopped celebrating with her in-laws this year due to the pandemic. Instead, she is at the cabin on Christmas Eve with her husband Dag Terje Solvang, also known as the Secretary General of the Tourism Association.
– The plan is to try to take it a little more calmly. Then of course there will be some work as well. Hopefully there is not much work, because then it means that the situation is difficult.
