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Councilmember Raymond Johansen cautions that there is a limit to the amount of cargo people can carry. The municipality will now regain control of the level of measures.
– Today exactly three months have passed since we introduced the Oslo social closure. Three months with strict restrictions for children and young people. Three months in which people have not been able to go to the gym or to the restaurant with friends, says Council Member Raymond Johansen.
He is concerned that Oslo is approaching a breaking point:
– We see very well that the burden of action is too heavy. That people have lived long enough in a closed city. I am sincerely concerned whether Oslo is approaching a breaking point, he says and continues:
– For the mental health of people. For children and young people. For organized sports. For cultural institutions. For anyone who sees that jobs and businesses are at risk. For all singles and large families. There is a limit to the amount of cargo that people can carry.
The government announced early Tuesday that the strict measures will continue in Oslo and several eastern municipalities for another week. Raymond Johansen warns that the municipality will regain control of the level of measures.
– Starting next week, the municipality of Oslo will once again have control over the measures, he says.
But there will be no relief this week.
– When we have import infection control, it must mean something because of the measures we have here in the city, says Johansen.
Preparing for a gradually reopened city
Raymond Johansen warns that the situation can change rapidly, despite the fact that the municipality has so far had control of contagion cases.
– We now have a window of time in which we can still have time to vaccinate before the new mutated virus spreads and takes over, he says.
The municipality of Oslo is preparing for a gradual yellow level in upper secondary schools.
– We do not let ourselves go from one day to the next, but we prepare ourselves for a city that is gradually reopened. We must be prepared for the fact that we can introduce measures at short notice, says Joahnsen.
If the mutated virus variants had not circulated in Norway, Oslo would probably get more relief now, Steen told VG:
– It would probably be possible to open more, as leisure activities for young people and perhaps adults. It might have been possible to evaluate the bar stop and all the discussion about the red or yellow level in upper secondary school.
Various cases of mutated virus
134 people have been diagnosed with the British virus variant in Oslo. There is more than expected, Oslo Health Councilor Robert Steen told VG on Monday.
Between 12 and 13 percent of the Oslo samples analyzed show a mutated virus. It’s the same level as in Denmark, says health advisor Robert Steen.
Norway had a better starting point with lower infection rates than Denmark.
As of today, the municipality has 35 cases where there is no total control of transmission routes.
– We must have strict infection control measures for a while longer, while also considering a careful and controlled reopening of the city. We won’t give specific numbers we need to be at to open up, says Steen.
Every time the municipality has felt it is in control, something new has happened, according to Steen.
– The only way out of this is vaccination. The sooner we get vaccinated, the better, he says.
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