Why the Finns Coronavirus are not so terrible

In the Finnish manual for migrants it is written that the Finns do not hug and do not kiss at the meeting, but greet the hand. Apparently, this is either a translator’s mistake, or just a lie. The Finns squeeze the hand only when meeting and never or almost never again (maybe close friends and if you have not seen each other for a very long time). Apparently, therefore, the Finnish government was in no hurry to declare emergency measures and close the borders from behind the coronavirus.

Until March 17, Finland was the last European country with which Russia had opened borders. On Monday, Vladimir Putin and Sauli NIISTE talked on the phone and after that, the Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin said that the borders would still be closed, and in the country on March 18 they will introduce a “emergency” regime.

However, the “emergency” of the Finns, in comparison with other European countries, where while the situation with the virus is even better, they understand and understand quite liberally. I even have a suspicion that if it were not for the European Union, which has closed all its external borders from March 18, Finland would not have initiated such measures (which would hardly have left the border open, because Russia would still be fenced off from the outside world).

In North Karelia, the most eastern region of the country, which has the longest border with Russia, they still heard about Koronavirus on TV and read on the Internet. Officially, only one sick person was registered in the region - a teacher who went to Northern Italy in early March.

But to say how many Covid-19 sick in reality is now impossible. Since March 14, Finland has officially ceased to consider coronavirus infected with coronavirus. Tests are carried out only for risk groups (for example, patients with asthma and other severe respiratory diseases), seriously ill and doctors. The representative of the Finnish Institute of Health and Social Development honestly stated on Monday that the real number of infected "20-30 times more" officially identified cases. Of course, if you want to get into statistics, then you can take a test at your own expense. According to a familiar resident of Joensuu, in the clinic she was voiced in the amount of 190 euros per sample.

All information about coronavirus is not only told on TV, but also sent by e -mail through employers. Electronic letter from the municipal clinic: “If you feel that you have caught a cold and think that you have symptoms of coronavirus, you can call a hot line and get psychological or psychiatric care. There are also online chats on the website of the Department of Health. Please do not go to the clinic, get a break and take more and take painting Burana. In our opinion, Ibuprof N-G.Ya.) If you are very bad, you are difficult to breathe, then call the insane. "

Until March 16, all questions about measures against the Covid-19, in the best traditions of lower democracy, were given to municipalities: everyone decided in their own way, close schools, kindergartens or not. Therefore, messages for the parents of schoolchildren and kindergartens were poured in packs.

Message from the electronic system of kindergartens Daisy in the evening of March 15: “The garden continues normal work, because the municipality of Joensuu has decided so much. Actually, our city is the exception of the rules, because there is a lot of quarantine where you have already decided to stay with the child at home-you have done correctly. Here are free access to the system that we use in the garden for early development of children. Install the application in the phone and install the application and set the application and install it. Use the access for 30 days, we will not forget to mark it in an electronic table, if the child does not go to the garden, so that we do not drive people to work in vain! ”

Message from the Wilma school system on March 16 in the morning (a few hours before the prime minister’s performance): “The school is operating in normal mode, but we had to cancel all the trips that we planned in the spring. In addition, the sports circle is canceled in the extension, but this is not a decision of the school or municipality, this is the decision of the Finnish Olympic Society, which is responsible for the work of the circle.”

Message from the electronic system of the University of Eastern Finland (Friday, March 13): “All lecture classes that can be carried out in remote form, preferably conducted online. If you do not want to go to work, work from home, it’s even preferable. The dining room thinks about how to distribute food in individual packaging. Try to keep a distance of 1 meter. Do not go anywhere, all the more abroad. Everyone who violated them. The prohibition of departure abroad is threatened with a forced quarantine for 14 days without payment.

As far as I understand, the University of Eastern Finland is the only university where the conditions for traveling abroad were set so harshly. Most likely because Russia is the only country to which the Finns could still go, and many university employees, both Russian -speaking and the rest, are periodically there for various matters: who goes to relatives, who - rest, and who - for gasoline. Some most active teachers immediately got into the pose: “Purely out of interest,” writes one of my foreign colleagues in response to a message about the ban on foreign (read - to Russia) trips, and on the basis of which law the university can forcibly put a person on quarantine, and even deprive salaries? ” On the sidelines, such a question seems to approve: “Well, it is true, if the WHO has declared a pandemic, this means that at the moment everyone is in the same danger - that sitting at home, having gone to Russia. In addition, in Russian Karelia it is probably more safe now than in Finnish.”

However, bravura conversations are one thing, and actions are another. Even before the government ordered all universities, a university restaurant, where not students, but employees ordered, from March 18, and where "closer to each other is not to approach each other," at the peak it was almost empty, although it was difficult to find a free place on a normal day. Many rooms in the corridor of my department were also closed - people decided to work from home.

Nevertheless, Finnish quarantine, even belated, was not as cruel as in other countries. From tomorrow, universities, schools, public institutions like libraries and pools will be closed, but no one forbids walking through the streets, the restaurant bars are still working (!) Work (restrictions are introduced if desired by the venues themselves), hotels and ski resorts take tourists, although they are injected with security measures - -in the same booth of the lift only members of the same family or company of friends, glasses and helmets in the cassock. They don’t rent rent, sticks and skis after use are disinfected, asked to “maintain a distance” in the restaurant. And the Finns regretted parents of the kids (or the state budget?) And left kindergartens to work. Because otherwise it would have to be kicked by parents on a paid vacation and, possibly, provide them with psychological support.

On the Finnish Facebook, they actively discussed: did anyone hear at least one hospitalized with coronavirus in Finland. There were no examples. On Monday, it became clear why: state media reported the first serious sick in the metropolitan region. It is clear that this patient immediately got into intensive care, because until you start to die, no one will hospitalize you. Having reported on the hospitalization of the first patient, the ministry clarified that special chambers and departments are already ready in all hospitals to receive such patients. Although, taking into account how many old people and people from risk groups are in Finland, they become a little anxious for them: if there is an explosive increase in severe cases, numerous deaths will not be avoided. And he, most likely, will happen, and pretty soon, even despite the lack of handshakes. From the outside it seems that the government understands this, but they accept such a development of events as granted ...

PS

And yes, about panic and purchase of toilet paper. On Friday, the Finns really dared all toilet paper and almost all the meat from the shelves of stores. True, you need to understand that Friday in Finland is a purchase day for the next week, few people go to the store on weekends. Especially in the border Joensuu, where large stores were captured by Russian tourists on weekends. So, apparently, many Finns decided to buy not one, but two weeks in advance. At the same time, however, it is not entirely clear why the Finns are so many toilet paper, because they have, if not a bidet, then a “hygienic shower” in each house, so that the potential absence (which is almost impossible in theory) should not affect the hygiene level.

For all traditionalists who do not complain the bidet, a new option appeared: they began to sell toilet paper in flower shops, in gift packaging:

Source: Public of VK "On the banks of Pielisyoki"