How to handle big parties and overnight stays – VG

This is the new council of the NIPH and the Norwegian Health Directorate. The government has asked them to come up with proposals for solutions to the challenges that many may face at Christmas: how many companies can join and what they do with the overnight stays.

Here you can read what they think people should do.

– These tips are important so that people can plan Christmas and have fun in a safe and good way, says the deputy director of health Espen Rostrup Nakstad to VG.

First: The basic tip of five guests.

The government’s advice this fall and winter has been that you should have a maximum of five visiting guests, if you have enough space for everyone to keep their distance. These are five guests plus everyone in your home. Therefore, it can be visited by relatives, children or grandparents for several days at Christmas.

• Remember: If all the guests are in the same household, it can be several. So a family of four, for example, may have a family of seven visiting.

But can they stay overnight?

Yes, says FHI and the Norwegian Health Directorate. The general recommendation of a maximum of five guests also applies to overnight stays. But guests should sleep in their own room, not with you and your family.

Maximum two big parties at Christmas, whether you are a host or a guest

However, twice at Christmas, you have exceptions to this advice for up to five guests. So you can have 6-10 guests at two different parties during the Christmas and New Years season, for example seven guests on Christmas Eve and ten on New Years Eve.

But then it stops.

If you are a host or guest in two companies with 6 to 10 guests, you should not go to other large companies, says the Norwegian Directorate of Health and NIPH.

– It is not recommended to invite people home to large parties on two different days and then go to two other companies on other days. If you’ve invited an additional number of people to your home for two days, you shouldn’t be meeting as many people on the other days. Because then there will be a lot of contacts, says Nakstad.

• So this is fine: You have a Christmas lunch with nine guests on Christmas day. And on Christmas day, dinner with some friends where there are six guests.
• This is not OK: You have a Christmas lunch with nine guests a day. The next day you go to a dinner with friends with six guests. On the third day, you invite seven people over for dinner. Then there are a total of three companies, one of more. ‘
• Brand: They are national councils that apply to everyone, that is, regardless of whether your municipality has its own councils. You should always follow the strictest advice or rules.

Overnight stays of large companies

If you follow the advice, you have a share of two great companies at Christmas, companies with 6-10 guests.

But keep in mind: if you have seven guests on Christmas Eve who stay the night until Christmas Day, you’ve used up your quota.

Then, he has had more than five guests on two different days, according to FHI and the Norwegian Health Directorate. And then you shouldn’t go to other big companies for the rest of Christmas and New Years.

The same applies, of course, if you sleep with someone after such a large undertaking. Then you have exhausted the quota.

• This is good: You have a party with nine guests on the 2nd of Christmas and the guests stay the night. You don’t go to other parties with 6-10 guests at Christmas and you don’t invite any more parties like this.
• This is not OK: You have a party with nine guests on the 2nd of Christmas who are staying the night. They are with you on the morning of the 3rd of Christmas. Then you go in company with 8 guests on New Year’s Eve. It will be a great company too many.

Feel free to meet the same people

But can you have five different guests visiting every day during Christmas when the council is actually a maximum of five guests at a time? The Norwegian Directorate of Health and the NIPH state the following: You should try to meet the same people over Christmas, so that the total number of people you are in contact with is limited.

– In general, there is a maximum of five visiting guests, and you try to meet the same people throughout Christmas. This means you can have the same people visit during Christmas in space if there are no more than five, says Nakstad.

• What happens if I break the advice? Nothing. This is advice, not rules that you can be fined for breaking. But several municipalities, such as Oslo, have introduced stricter rules that can be punished if you break them. Check here the measures that apply in your municipality.