Cooperation problems and territorial disputes in crisis management are symptoms of a larger problem

The director of infection control was heard and the five-person rule against professional advice was introduced. Councilor Roger Valhammer (Labor Party) has an explanation problem.

Councilor Roger Valhammer (Labor Party) It has managed to provoke both the opposition in the city council and its own professionals, in the middle of the most critical phase of a pandemic.

It is weak and reckless crisis management.

Valhammer has insisted that the strict ban on bringing together more than five people in Bergen had its roots in professional councils.

“We have received an evaluation and recommendation at the local level of five, which has been based on the local infection control council and which has been supported by NIPH,” said in Politisk kvarter in NRK.

However, it turns out that Bergen’s chief infection control physician, Karina Koller Løland, thought the move was too intrusive. The infection control doctor’s advice was constantly ignored, and now she quit her job.

When the council sent NIPH a list of the measures they wanted to introduce, the five-person rule was not included. In Oslo, the FHI is said to have advised against it for lack of precision, according to city councilor Raymond Johansen (Labor Party).

“There is a pattern where the information coming from the city council leader is imprecise at best. It is serious,” SV leader Mikkel Grüner tells BT.

There is no final decision In this pandemic, and politicians are free Adopt stricter rules than those recommended by medical professionals. National authorities have done so, both in terms of school closings and booth bans.

The Bergen City Council may be the strictest in the country, but it must be open about the fact that these are political decisions, and what advice is the basis.

It is deeply fraudulent to pressure professionals in front of them if there is no coverage for it.

The BT correspondence He has learned to reveal a rather cool atmosphere in the team that will save us from the crisis. Not exactly to be trusted.

Before the crown’s rules were updated in Bergen on Monday this week, infection control chief doctor Karina Koller Løland sent her professional recommendations. The entry was not even included in the evaluation. The city council had already decided.

He was also promised a place in crisis management, but when he started working, the place was already filled by medical director Trond Egil Hansen.

The explanation was that the infection control manager should have time to do operational work and no more doctors are needed in management.

It is conceivable that the evaluation was completely correct.

But it doesn’t matter why it has been cut: cooperation problems and territorial struggle in crisis management during a pandemic is a very bad sign.

When the city council hires chief physician with special competence in infection control as a counselor, the point should be to listen to the advice she gives.

Although he does not prepare and protest loudly in meetings, it is Roger Valhammer’s responsibility to lead to make sure his opinion is heard.

SV leader Mikkel grüner now it demands an immediate response from the city council and demands the delivery of the documents that formed the basis of the strict rules of the crown.

It shouldn’t have been necessary.

Valhammer and company would have benefited from greater openness and inclusion around the demanding measures the city is taking. When the opposition ends up having to extract information in this way, unnecessary conflict is generated.

It is also a lack of tact as the Valhammer City Council is a minority and depends on the support of SV and Sp to get its budget.

Infection rates are declining, and strict measures were obviously needed. However, it is timely to discuss how crisis management does its job.

Councilor Roger Valhammer has placed himself in a position where he is constantly faced with attempts to distort the truth.

Create the impression that the administration of this city has no control and is being led from fortress to fortress. Both the Vigilo scandal and the handling of crisis powers when the crown arrived in spring reinforce such a perception.

Nobody wins with one parliamentary crisis in Bergen right now.

The city is in the midst of a demanding pandemic. SV does not want a conservative-run city hall. Conservatives have little political gain to achieve by assuming leadership of the city when the supporting parties FNB and Frp have all but collapsed from within.

The city council is probably sitting pretty safely. That doesn’t mean they feel good.