Overcrowding despite the crown in malls like Emporia

Since March 29, gatherings of more than 50 participants have been banned in Sweden and, since the beginning of the pandemic, municipalities have been tasked with carrying out congestion controls in restaurants. As a result, cultural events have had to be canceled and competitive sports have been forced to run without an audience, while visiting many shopping centers has been free.

The mall is considered a public place and is not covered by the 50 person rule. The environmental administration is also not mandated to report congestion outside of restaurants.

– We do not have the opportunity to make demands in other places, then the legislation must be changed, explains Arvid Nordland, unit head of the environmental administration in Malmö.

In practice, this means that you can pile up with people in the mall a few meters from a controlled restaurant.

– Those of us who work with this can also react, but the infection is more likely to spread further if you sit for a long time, continues Arvid Nordland.

Sign system in Väla

The general advice of the Swedish Public Health Agency states that “shops, shopping centers and shopping centers should limit the number of customers staying in the premises at the same time”, but there are no sanctions attached to the advice.

The way shopping malls in southern Sweden handle the number of visitors is different. In Väla in Helsingborg, the entrances are closed when there are too many people.

– We follow the flow in the house and we have a signaling system that shows green if there are few people and red if there are many. Then we have an upper roof and then we block the entrances and let five in when ten have come out, says Niklas Blonér, director of the Väla center in Helsingborg.

– We cannot let in as many as we want, but we have an area of ​​72,000 square meters, which is much larger than an arena.

The Kalmar giraffe has chosen a different path.

– We follow all directives from the Public Health Agency, but we don’t stop anyone who wants to come here, says Jenny Eberhardsson, manager of the center.

Daniel Eklund, Director of the C4 Shopping Center in Kristianstad:

– We have around 90 stores spread over 42,000 m2, which means that the mall can handle the amount of customers we have without any kind of congestion.

“Own responsibility too”

All the shopping centers in southern Sweden that Kvällsposten has been in contact with have taken a number of steps to reduce congestion.

– You don’t come because there are many people some days but we help each other. It’s your own responsibility, too, continues Giraffen’s Jenny Eberhardsson.

If individual stores choose to limit the number of visitors, it is up to the stores.

– We don’t interfere with it, says Mats Jäderberg, director of the GrandSamarkand center.

But supervision has also been carried out in shopping centers, in their restaurants.

After repeatedly finding deficiencies, the environmental administration has acted forcefully against congestion at the Emporia shopping center. In mid-September, Emporia was fined after the food court failed to take the necessary action.

The fine landed as high as possible.

– Fines range from 25,000 to 150,000 depending on the size of the businesses and the severity. The Emporia food court has received 150,000 SEK, says Arvid Nordland, unit manager for the food control department.

Emporia has not yet had to pay.

– But we will continue to monitor Emporia through the fall, says Arvid Nordland.

Kvällposten has contacted the manager of the Emporia center, Johan Torge, to ask how the mall is handling congestion. He has chosen not to answer any questions and instead sent a link to the website where there is information on how the mall handles questions related to covid.

QUESTION: Are you afraid of crowds in Emporia?

Victoria Tegstam. 26. Cafeteria assistant. Malmö:

“Yes, it’s me. It was very difficult to go here before I got a mask. There are many narrow corridors and escalators where a lot of people gather.”

Rosanna Wahlgren, 20, student, Trelleborg:

“Yes, now in crown times, there should be no crowds, but when I’ve been to Emporia on weekends, there have been a lot of people. I’m personally not happy with that “

Anna Korpi, 25, maternity leave coordinator, Malmö:

“I’m a bit, especially now that I’m pregnant. I try to check that I don’t end up right in front of people and on weekends there are a lot of people in Emporia.”