The Norwegian Health Directorate and FHI gave advice on how to make things easier for hut owners. Then the infection changed.

On Monday, the Health Minister received a recommendation to change the quarantine rules for cabin people. Four days later, the case was put on hold.

The cabin ban in Norway lasted a few weeks. For vacation property owners on the other side of the border, the restrictions still apply.

If they travel to the cabin, they must be quarantined for ten days when they return to Norway. The only exception is to perform strictly necessary maintenance. The exception only applies if they do not stay overnight.

Earlier this week, government advisers said the quarantine exemption should be extended to this group. Shows a recommendation that Aftenposten has accessed.

On Monday, the letter ended up on the table of Health Minister Bent Høie. There, both the Norwegian Health Directorate and FHI endorsed new rules that will make it much easier for cottage owners to visit the property across the border.

But now an uncertain infection situation means the case is on hold.

You must assess the development of infection.

For the 12,416 Norwegians who have holiday homes in Sweden, frustration has increased due to the pandemic. The relief they were hoping for has not materialized.

The letter, which was sent from the Norwegian Health Directorate on Monday, brought them one step closer to hope. But a lot happened on Friday.

At 10.46, the Ministry of Health and Sanitary Services sent a letter to the address. They requested a reassessment in light of recent events.

Then the Norwegian Directorate of Health convened a meeting with the NIPH. The conclusion was that the case was put on hold for a time.

– We asked the ministry to put the case on hold until we get a little better insight. FHI is now working closely with us to analyze the new infection rates. We do an assessment over the weekend on how the development is now and where the infection occurs. Based on what we will later give a new recommendation on when our advice should be considered, says health director Bjørn Guldvog.

The recommendation is not rejected

When Aftenposten on Friday afternoon had access to the recommendation that had been sent earlier this week, it contacted the Ministry of Health. A couple of hours later, senior advisor Andreas Keus from the communications department called. The message from there was that the recommendation had been withdrawn by the Norwegian Health Directorate due to a change in the infection situation.

That’s not true at all. The recommendation remains in effect, but progress has been temporarily halted.

– Is it first of all the time or the content of the recommendation that you should consider?

– That is the moment. So we have to make reservations if there is something urgent happening now, which means we have to consider differently in the future, says Guldvog.

Health authorities perceive the situation as confusing.

– We want to have a better overview. Things are happening both in Norway and in all the Nordic countries at the same time.

In Norway, infection rates have skyrocketed and stricter measures have been introduced. The rest of the Nordic region is also drastically adjusting. In several places in Sweden, people are asked to avoid shops and shopping malls.

Therefore, health leaders want to be more confident about what is happening, before Norway goes ahead with further adjustments.

This was the advice

In the recommendation, the government was recommended to make these changes:

• The requirement to stay overnight is removed and replaced with a 72 hour time limit.
• The provision can be extended to apply to the Nordic countries.
• The requirement that the purpose of the trip is to perform strictly necessary maintenance and inspection.
  to avoid major material damage to buildings, boats, caravans and the like,
  taken out.

It is professionally justifiable to allow time-limited stays, FHI summarized. The prerequisite is that you do not use public transport and avoid close contact with other people than the people you live with.

They note that poor compliance with the requirements may increase the risk of infection when imported into Norway.

Both the Norwegian Health Directorate and the NIPH believe that accommodation does not increase the risk of infection as long as you are not in contact with other people outside your home. However, they consider that the longer the stay, the greater the probability that they will need to be in contact with the local population. Therefore, they proposed a time limit.

In the letter, the Norwegian Health Directorate emphasizes once again that the main rule about the ten-day entry quarantine has a clear professional medical justification. FHI, however, questions whether the quarantine requirement for cabin people is “proportionate.” When measures are not perceived as relevant or necessary, support can drop, they note.

‘Entry quarantines should be directed at people who have been exposed to the infection, eg. Eg after having had close contact with people other than those who live in a country with a high incidence of contagion ”, writes FHI.

Was degraded before the summer

Many country home owners feel unfairly treated. Several of them have threatened to sue the state.

When the government opened for travel before the summer, they experienced a demotion. Travelers from the Nordic countries generally took the lead.

Then, FHI believed that in isolation it was justified to allow the owners of the huts to leave the quarantine, but did not assess the risk of infection against the other alternatives. The government thought the risk would be too high by opening up to both.

In August, the owners of the cabins were again a topic among the advisers. At the time, the Norwegian Health Directorate and the NIPH thought it would be justifiable to let them stay overnight as long as they stayed away from others. Bent Høie made it clear that this did not imply a recommendation to change the rules.

On October 1, the ministry asked advisers to consider this particular exception. The response came Monday and consisted of a recommendation to change the rules. But on Friday, the case was put on hold.

Here you can read the expert evaluations:

Recommendation of the Norwegian Health Directorate 26 October.

FHIs vurdering 23. October.