– Not very impressed with what Oslo has achieved – VG

The municipality of Oslo is in the midst of a new infection boom. On Friday, 216 new cases of contagion were registered in the capital. The day before, a record was set for the number of new cases registered in one day: 244, according to VG’s summary. The municipality’s figures show 231 on Thursday, 224 on Friday and 138 on Saturday.

The city council has already announced one extent of infection control measures, and has announced a press conference on Sunday where they will present new and more stringent measures.

The mayor of the municipality of Molde, Torgeir Dahl, on Saturday strongly opposes how the Oslo City Council handles the pandemic.

– It seems that Oslo never manages to control the infection. I notice that there is still a high infection pressure in Oslo, which is spreading to the country, he says.

Dahl believes that the capital’s management is asking for a “kind of reverse reward” when they say they should receive more vaccines as a result of the pressure of infection.

– So from my point of view, it is natural to ask the Oslo city hall if they cannot do their job properly or if citizens cannot follow the rules, says the mayor.

He believes that the city council’s management of the pandemic “fails” and draws comparisons with other large cities, “such as Bergen and Trondheim.”

– They have had their challenges, but they manage to control the infection, he says.

Johansen: – World class

Criticism does not sit well with Councilor Raymond Johansen in Oslo.

– I think Torgeir Dahl’s attack on the people of Oslo is disgusting. Oslo is one of the large cities in Europe that has best handled the corona pandemic, and employees of the Oslo municipality have done world-class work, the city council leader writes in an email to VG.

Johansen is supported by the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH), which believes that Oslo is “making a very strong effort” against the pandemic. Read more about what they think about driving in Oslo later in the case.

The city council leader notes that Oslo has “fewer infections and fewer deaths than most other big cities” and that the capital’s inhabitants “have lived with strict restrictions for a long time,” something for which he expressed great concern. two weeks. .

Johansen believes that the inhabitants of the capital have assumed a “great responsibility” and that this is “much of the explanation for the fact that Norway as a whole has recovered relatively well during the pandemic.”

– Dahl should take the opportunity to thank the people of Oslo for the efforts they have made and the burden of action they have borne to curb the spread of the infection to the rest of the country, believes the city council leader.

I have an Oslo infection

If Oslo does not have infection control, Mayor Dahl in Molde believes it increases the risk of outbreaks in other parts of the country.

It indicates that the municipality of Molde did not register any case from January 18 of this year to February 22. They then recorded two new cases of infection, both of whom had been on business trips in eastern Norway.

According to the mayor, both cases originated in Oslo. One of the cases was of a mutated variant.

“The question is whether Oslo is using resources well enough,” says Dahl, referring to the upward trend.

He believes that it seems that the municipality “is unable to communicate with everyone to achieve comprehensive monitoring of the infection and a dialogue on the regulations that apply at all times.”

– I am not very impressed with what Oslo has achieved. At one point they cry out for more government regulations and at the other for more freedom. That’s bad leadership, in my opinion.

– Do you think Oslo has lost control?

– I only realize that infection rates are high on a fairly continuous basis. It is clear that one has not been able to have full control, he says and adds:

– We depend on Oslo to gain control. We are frustrated that they are not up to the task.

Targeting the government

Councilor Johansen, for his part, believes that infection in Oslo “normally” increases due to “waves of infection in Europe and lack of measures against import infection”

– Actually, it is exactly what we see now, it is the imported British variant that is now spreading.

It also points to the government and its decision to leave the borders open to some industries.

“It is well known that the Dahl government itself gave free broad passes to industrial lobbyists who relied on foreign labor instead of securing borders and providing common people with protection against imported variants of the virus,” he writes.

FHI: – Oslo has made a very strong effort

FHI Chief Physician Preben Aavitsland writes in an email to VG that “Oslo and neighboring municipalities have made and are making a very strong effort against the epidemic.”

-The population there has lived under very strict measures for a long time, he continues.

Furthermore, he writes that the Oslo area this fall and winter has had a “worse situation than the rest of the country.”

– It may be due to a larger population and a higher population density. Corona is also known in other parts of Europe as a metropolitan disease.

At the same time, Aavitsland admits that he sees other municipalities “catching on from travelers from the Oslo area.” Therefore, he believes that “the whole country is interested in controlling the epidemic in the Oslo area.”

– Oslo and the neighboring municipalities have made and are making a very strong effort against the epidemic. The people there have lived under very strict measures for a long time. We understand that municipalities should consider relief when they can, but also strike again when necessary. This is not an easy task.