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As of Tuesday night, the government introduced the strictest levels of measures throughout Viken County, including municipalities without any infection.
This makes both mayors and companies in various municipalities, without cases of infection, furious.
Mayor Solveig Vestenfor in Ål Municipality now realizes that the inhabitants are frustrated and desperate due to the new measures.
– People are desperate because they feel they have been good and loyal and yet this is the price to pay, says Vestenfor.
Desperate
She points out that Easter is perhaps the most important time of the year and is the business base of an entire annual turnover, and now Easter is in the sink.
– Does it seem unfair that it is part of the closing?
– Yes! Despite the fact that the Hallings we see that we have been lucky. We know that it is much more difficult to be a resident in densely populated areas. But when such strict measures are taken, as the Infection Control Act does here, it is also important that the inhabitants understand that it is necessary. And that’s exactly what people are struggling with the most right now, I think, says the mayor.
Flå Mayor Merete Høntorp Gandrud agrees.
– We must also participate in joint work, it is understandable. The city and the country go hand in hand, we must have a common charity, but … there is still a certain degree of irrationality, says Gandrud.
She believes that there was no need to implement such strict measures in Flå as the larger and more central municipalities in Viken.
– It would have been good if the authorities showed us so much confidence that they had some flexibility depending on the number of infected in each municipality, says the mayor of Flå.
Fear of cancellations
General Manager Roger Espeli for Vestlia Resort and Chairman of the Visit Geilo Board Now Fears Easter is upon us
– Now we are terrified that there are more cancellations and fewer reservations, says Espeli.
– How does it feel to receive these measures in a place that, after all, does not have a single infected person?
– It’s very frustrating. Now we have suffered for a year. This seems unreasonable, because we’ve gotten good at infection control and we’ve done it in collaboration with all of our guests and we feel like we’ve had good control here. And then it doesn’t seem reasonable that we fall into category five, like everyone else in Viken County, he says.
– incomprehensible
The hotel manager also doesn’t understand the new bar stop.
– The bar stop is incomprehensible to us. We have lived with the spill until midnight and until 10 at night, which we have handled very well. So he doesn’t understand the bar stop, says Espeli.
Vidar Nyhus’s sports shop in Geilo is completely empty. He had hoped and prepared for a happy Easter. But that dream was shattered by Høie on Monday night.
– Last year there was a store open and zero people in the hut, this year we have to close and people can come to the mountains, says Nyhus and shakes his head.
Lose 10 million
– How about having to close?
– I find it strange that all Viken comes together in a single spot. At Hallingdal we have had zero or very little infection. We have shown that we have faced Christmas and the winter holidays, and that we received a sign that we could get a light version of Easter. But now, instead, it will be completely closed, says the sports manager.
He loses around 10 million by having to keep the doors closed at Easter two years in a row.
– Last year we had a billing failure in this period of five million, and I hope it is very similar this year.
Health Minister Bent Høie explained at Monday night’s press conference why they introduced similarly stringent measures across Viken.
– Although there are variations in the infection situation in Viken, it is important with strict and coordinated measures to reduce mobility throughout the county. The equality of measures for the entire county will make it easier to understand and adhere to the rules, Høie says.
