Corona pandemic in Norway.

[Captain Maltese]

Friday the 13th seems like a suitable time to start this thread. It is just a newsy report on what is happening here.

Background: at first just a few cases were reported; returning travelers from holidays in Austria and Italy. They were asked to go in self quarantine. As these travelers were mostly young healthy people who had been on skiing, they could care less about having to stay at home. And so it started to spread, until the government could no longer tell who had been infected where. Right now we have 692 registered infected, a handful actually quite sick and one elderly person dead. Doesn't sound like too much until you consider that our entire population is just 5 million. But there is no longer control over the spreading. One week ago the government estimated a hundre infection cases or so. This week the estimate is a mindbogging 2.2 million infected. And so...

We are on lockdown. The entire country. Is. On. Lockdown. Yesterday was when the Norwegian government finally took firm action against the incoming Corona virus and they really weren't mincing about it. All kindergartens and schools are closed. All gatherings above 50 people are closed. All sport, all cinemas, all concerts and all other public entertainment are forbidden. Restaurants and cafes are ordered to only allow guests if they sit at least three feet from each other. People are urged not to visit people in homes for the elderly or sick, or prisons, or any similar place. Massage parlors. tattoo shops and every other kind of personal close up attention are ordered closed. Today additional orders have been issued, forbidding all foreigners from entering the country and immediately return those who arrive none the less. All returning Norwegians are to go into two week self quarantine and as of now, those who defy it could get imprisoned. There has not been such a state of things in Norway since ww2, and these new rules go beyone the ww2 ones.

Those are the orders. The effect is devastating. Our city streets are empty. The subway is empty. The airports are empty. All public traveling is to be curtailed as much as possible. There's increasing hoarding in the shops, which the authorities say are completely pointless as there's plenty food, but the authorities don't seem to understand that going shopping is now infection place number one. We really don't want to go shopping again for a while. TV don't have any sport to show. There's literally just one newsstory on all of our TV channels.

With this new desolation comes an immediate economic disaster. Many thousands of people who thought they had secure jobs are being put on temporary suspension as of this weekend, for time unknown - on 2/3 paycheck. It takes a lot to be fired in Norway but now a LOT of small time employment places like hair salons and pubs are facing a very real risk of going backrupt. Doesn't take long for small service providers.

With a presumably ample food supply, or so the authorities promise, there's only one thing actually rationed: paracetamol, or Tylenol to you Americans. It's one of the two most used receipt free painkillers available to us.

It's almost embarassing to talk about myself in this. I live in a small town where there's no registered infections yet, although two of the neighboring areas have been hit. I'm fine, but very concerned and for good reason. While my health is not perfect I don't have any ailments that Corona could make worse. If I get infected, I shouldn't get hit worse than a solid flue does. I live alone but for the cats and cutting down on my weekly shopping is probably all it will take for me to not get particularly exposed. If I have to be in quarantine it won't be much of a problem. However. In this little town where I live, I also have two parents approaching their 80s, and two fairly young relatives of whom one has a weak immune system. If either of these catch the big bug, there could be grave consequences. And the only way I can help them by going errands or buy food or otherwise help out, is by staying uninfected.

Today I went grocery shopping. Early in the day, so there would be few people around. Normally I shop groceries twice weekly, just to get out of the house. Today I bought enough food to last me two whole weeks, not counting the food already in house. If necessary I can go three or four weeks without buying a thing. Going to be some boring meals, but hey. I've been a prepper for years and have built up stores accordingly - a pandemic was the top of my list of doomsday scenarios well before the world learned the name of Corona. My garb for this shopping was a hooded jacket, gloves and a huge scarf. The two times I had to take off my gloves to push buttons I immediately put on antibac before putting the glove back on. I bought nothing that wasn't packaged in plastic. As soon as I got home I got a hot shower.

There has been surprises. Watching Norway empty overnight has been well beyond my expectations. Also, we have been told to please please don't go to our cabins because the small rural counties where mosts of these hundreds of thousands of cabins are, can't supply medical services beyond the needs of the permanent residents. Some of these counties have a couple of thousand permanent residents and twenty thousand holiday cabin dwellers. The airborne medical services have already warned flat out that they have no resource in manpower, skills, equipment or choppers to deal with infection cases. Which means that my plan to retire to my own cabin now comes with the knowledge that I won't be rescued if I shouild want to. Airports: the main international airport do not have the manpower to guard against foreigners showing up, so apparently from 6am tomorrow the military will be enforcing it. That's a new one. The police? The police have closed down all service functions; passports, driving licenses, all that stuff is now unavailable for the time being.

With today's announcements also came a number of economic crutches for the companies that will feel this. The air transport companies are hit very hard, 'Norwegian' alone suspended 5000 jobs today. No passengers, no income. There are however a lot of crutches missing as yet; we have so many one man companies that don't fit into the initial framework. Concert coordinators. Artists. House cleaners. On and on.

About the only really good news is that just maybe we acted fast enough to nip this in the bud. And we are a small country with a lot of space dividing a small population. And we are a very wealthy country. It's not going to be a question about being able to afford what needs to be done, but about not doing more harm than good in the process. I am hopeful that this whole thing can pass. And that for all the people who are going to face hardship as a result for this, things will get back to normal and copable again. In the meantime, we are all going into hibernation. The government say they expect the top of the pandemic will be between May - and October. That's a long time to be in hibernation.

[Captain Maltese]

12 hours later, the number of infected have gone from 692 to 907. Numbers will keep rising sharply as test results keep coming in. As expected, police and military forces along with health staff are now at our airports roping in all arrivals. All foreigners are returned immediately unless they are infected, in which case they are put into forced quarantine at the airport hotels. Arriving Norwegians are also quarantined. Basically the borders are now closed to all foreigners. Meanwhile, Norwegians out of the country are urged to return home.

The biannual national wage negotiations have been put off until autumn. The unions' leader is just one of many who is now quarantined. The health minister is also quarantined.

Yesterday paracetamol was put on rationing. Today insulin has been added. Norway have no medicine manufacture or capacity of its now and the foolishness of that is becoming obvious. I am on a few non-life-vital medicines myself and it will be interesting to see if supplies of them can be maintained. Many others would face far grimmer consequences if there is a real break in supplies.

I expect to update this post throughout the day. Things are developing from hour to hour now.

Update: 1033 infected now.

For the last two days, all former medical personnel in Norway is on standby. Leaving the country is illegal for them. Both those who have left for other lines of work or stay at home, medical students, and pensioned ones, are alerted that they may be called in to help out. Already hospitals are using Instagram and other social networks to call for extra staff to fill positions.

The entire health department leadership is now in quarantine after one of them tested as infected.

Update: 1074 infected now. 3 are dead.

Yet another press conference with the prime minister. It's getting pretty eerie. Usually this involves a thronge of journalists asking lots of questions. Now there is just a handful of journalists and they are placed on chairs three feet away from each other. Half the chairs are empty. And there is a hand sign interpreter for the deaf, given as much screen space as the prime ministers. The new actions from govt level is that airports and ship ports will formally close down from Monday, allowing only cargo traffic and returning Norwegians through the border. Also they really really mean it now about people leaving their cabins and going to their homesteads; in an utterly unprecedented move there will be be Civil Defense personnel going from cabin to cabin to politely urge people to leave. I doubt this will happen other than in the most intensely cabin-populated areas, as Civil Defense is not particularly well staffed. We really get our disaster readiness tested these days, and the cracks in the construction are starting to show.

One oddity is from the capitol Oslo, where the local authorities say they will help foreign beggars home. This means back to Romania in many cases. Foreign beggars are an unfortunate staple of Oslo's main streets as well as in the other bigger Norwegian cities and they have no respect whatsoever for laws and rules, meaning they also have have had a considerable effect on local small crime statistics; pickpocketing, drug sales, sale of dubious gold, robbery of the elderly and infirm, cons, prostitution. These people would never follow quarantine rules as they have no official home here, avoid all kinds of testing as it would mean registering - and now that the streets are emptying of Norwegians and tourists, they also have no legal income whatsoever (begging isn't illegal by law). Whether the authorities will be able to locate these individuals is an entirely different question - people who travel unseen through Europe on a regular basis will not stand still and wait to be moved away from the best available source for their income. My initial guess is that they will vanish abruptly, then show up in other Norwegian towns. But it is going to be hard to not get noticed by local police under these new conditions.

Coming up on the horizon now is the issue with Sweden, which so far seem to have a different approach to the virus. They are not closing down schools, because it is going to cost too much, and are only curtailing activities with more than 500 people. Official information pages acknowledges that there are 'several' infection cases. Since Sweden share one of Europe's longest borders with Norway and we have a massive number of Swedes working and living in Norway, there is a huge risk of infection having a chance to slip over through unofficial border traffic. There is no way to control this border beyond the usual traffic crossovers. For instance, thousands of Norwegians went across to Sweden today to do shopping at the huge malls catering mostly to Norwegian customers who loves Swedish prices, and at these thronged malls there were no virus detention tools in use whatsoever. The Swedes are happy to see their sales skyrocket. But will these shoppers bring more than cheap bacon back? We are going to find out pretty soon.

Update: 1090 infected now. 3 are dead. The authorities are warning that there are now large black numbers of infected as tests are now reserved only for the seriously ill and those in vital jobs like health workers.

One of the many areas now affected are news media. News media that were doing updates every five minutes with snippets from the whole world are near silent. Things are still happened but it looks like most of the journalists have gone home. Eerie, and another thing I honestly didn't expect in a pandemic.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 1254 infected now, of which 42 are in hospital. 3 are dead.

This evening our king made a brief speech on TV. He didn't say anything unexpected, but he is 80 years old and is himself in quarantine. The cabin issue remains a big thing, and now some of those counties with lots of cabins are actually chasing people out. Normally this would be cause for revolution but since the government already told them all to go home it's mainly leading to people be embarrassed about being caught not going home. Weird times. Among the good news - sounds like all the people on temporary layoffs are going to get 100% pay, not just 2/3. That's going to come as a big relief to people who were working hard to pay mortgages even before this brouhaha. As for the Swedish issue, the clampdown on border traffic comes on Tuesday next week. From then on, everyone going for a little cross border shopping returns home and straight into compulsory 14 day quarantine. Exceptions will only be made for work commuters. We have a lot of Swedish medical staff working in Norway and they would be more than sorely missed. Being a part of the Schengen border treaty we have had a lot of paperless traffic. From Monday next week, you can no longer expect to pass in or out without a passport.

Compensation to business remains a major issue. SAS, the Scandinavian air service company, today announced they are temp laying off 10 000 people. That's 90% of their staff. While the Norwegian government now owns just a couple of percent of the shares, it is still the biggest deliverer of air transport in Norway. Also Wideroe, a small company that serves the smallest routes in northern Norway, is laying off another 1000. Between SAS, Norwegian and Wideroe they do almost all the air traffic inside Norway. Most of the small airports have already closed down.

I'm not entirely well. Nothing big. Feeling a bit hot, got a bit of rasp in my throat, breathing a little heavy, coughing a little. Normally I wouldn't put much worry into it but under the circumstances, I am noticing it. Not a single case have as yet been reported in my town and I damned if I am going to be the first one. If this is the big one, I am getting off light and after all the latest goverment estimate is that maybe 60% of the population could get it - and then we'll be more or less immune once we shake it off. Right now I am glad I bought two weeks' worth of food. Trouble is, I'm running out of one of my meds in 9 days and it's one of those high octane types I can only have a 30 pill box of every 30 days. I can do without, but then I will also have to do without sleep. I guess I'll be heading to the apothecary when I have to, and then I will be wearing a mask no matter how cringy it looks. I guess with the deeply hooded jacket and a scarf I can look like a Stalker. If anyone looks funny at me I can just take off the mask and cough on them. Nah..... Better not. A guy did that yesterday and he got promptly arrested. This is no time for physical humor.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 1282 infected now, of which 49 are in hospital. 3 are dead.

Real weird to watch the main border crossing to Sweden get physically closed. Those bars have not been lowered since the day they were installed. The National Guard unit now active at our main airport, which can't be completely closed down, has been given limited police authority. On the flip side there is talk about letting a few prisoners out early, who only have a few days left of their sentences. It's difficult to see how things can get better from this step. School kids starting on internet based remote schooling have a not particularly surprising problem; the teaching platform systems are bogging down due to the massive numbers of pupils and students logging on at the same time. These system have been less that perfect for a long time and throwing lots of money at patching them up will not bring the quick fix that is needed now. Beyond that the day is still young. More welcome economic news from the government; independent one-man business people whose income is suddenly zero because their line of business is closed down, will get a payout of 80% of the average income from the last three years. That is one hell of a lot better than no income at all.

Update: 18k+ are tested, which is about 0.3% of the population. 1313 infected now, of which 53 are in hospital. 3 are dead.

More press conferences and press statements. Police will hire temporary staff increases from police students, retired police and so on. That's good because I'll rather have more cops around than a bunch of military guys whose training is on combat rather than civil unrest. On the other hand people who break imposed quaranine will now face a standard fine of 2000 dollars. That WILL hurt. Also the Emergency Rescue service have issued a warning that people planning a mountain trip for Easter (extremely common in Norway) should stay at home as this year there are no dependable resources for rescuing anyone. That's a lot of skiing, hiking, snowmobiling and mountaineering taking on an entirely new level of risk.

Update: 1348 infected now, of which 55 are in hospital. Of those 55, 11 are in intensive care. 3 are dead.

A few days ago the authorities estimated that Norway have 1400 Intensive Care Units (ICU) equipped with respirators, including the 600 already in daily use. This number has been corrected to 800. Turns out a lot of those not in daily use, were out of daily use for a reason. A lesson hopefully learned in time. But are there respirators on the market to be bought now?

There is more info about the infected cases now. About two thirds are men, in their mid 40s. Two thirds of the total, not necessarily the same guys, got infected during skiing trips to Austria and Italy. The last third was infected at home. But these are just the numbers we know. People who have started to feel flu-like symptoms are told to NOT go and get tested (against WHO advice to the countries) but stay home in self quarantine and not bother the strained medical system unless they feel seriously sick. There isn't even an estimate for this group now.

Some smaller hospitals and medical centers prove to be utterly unprepared, lacking even the most basic protective gear like masks and gloves. One doctor at a four-doctor medical center was on TV showing the entire emergency kit - one five bucks tyvek suit, a couple of two dollar goggles and a bottle of alcohol. If even one of those four doctors get infected they have to close the doors on all their 6000 regular patients. Calls are going out in some of these place for donations of masks, suits, whatever. Business and even private individuals have been making donations of gear. I guess this is part of the price we pay for consisting of a country of mostly small isolated communities rather than big cities. On the other hand it helps keeping the infection rate down so I shouldn't complain.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 1421 infected now, of which 68 are in hospital. 3 are dead. 18k+ tested. Norway is now one of the countries with most tests and most registered infected; two numbers that make sense when together.

The unemployment numbers are shooting up. Partly because some people get laid off permanently and partly because the requirements for unemployment payments have been cut in half, so people who didn't see a point in registering before have a reason now.

The numbers for medical staff in quarantine is also going through the roof. In the southwestern sector (which includes the capital) more than 6000 nurses, doctors and so on have been sent home because there is a risk that they may have been infected. Fortunately the call for more students, pensioners and other former medically qualified people are bolstering the hospital ranks. In the capital alone more than 1800 have volunteered to service medically. Some of these are pensioners and in risk groups themselves. These will be placed in more protected tasks, replacing young healthy medical staff that can be freed to move to more risky work.

Update: 1443 infected now, of which 68 are in hospital - 13 in ICU. 3 are dead. 18k+ tested.

Good news on the medic worker side. A whopping 68.000 have volunteered for temporary medical work, according to one list. That's more than 1.2% of the entire Norwegian population. The list includes dental workers, lab staff and so on. If the system can even absorb that much manpower we'll be able to handle a lot more illness than we've had among hospital staff so far.

Apothecaries are experiencing a drain on non-prescription medicines and customers can now only buy one item of each type. Nothing stops the customers from going to the next place and buy more there, but it will probably help.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 1524 infected now, of which 77 are in hospital - 13 in ICU. 4 are dead. 18k+ tested.

My local county has its first infection case. It was just a matter of time. On the flip side, there's apparently coming up a temporary medical center just three minutes away, which will focus on checking out people with flu and colds to see if they could have the virus. Heard that one on the radion so I don't have more specifics yet. If it is as described I might go there myself.

The capital has started busing and flying 200 Romanians without papers, legal jobs or places to stay back to their homelands. These have all asked to be helped back. There are probably several thousand more just in the capital who are trying to ride this out, but the number could quadruple in another week or two.

The prime minister is having a press conference again tonight. It's a daily thing now to have someone from the top of the government make new statements. Mostly ministers. Half of the speakers have to do it from their homes as they are infected or in quarantine.

Norway is a country with a lot of guns, cabins - and leisure boats. A five million population has 900 000 non-commercial boats ranging from little rowboats to sailboats and ocean cruisers. If that's the official number then the unofficial is probably one and a half million. Hell, I even have a small one myself. My dad has five. It's a thing. And especially in the southern part of Norway there is a culture of boat people going on convoys and holiday meetup together in the same way caravan people do. Now the government wants this social culture curtailed like they did with the cabins. Partly because this is about people meeting and being social and spreading virus. Partly because just like our airborne medical emergency rescue system isn't equipped to deal with infected cases, our naval rescue services are likewise not ready to deal with them. If one even suspected infection case comes aboard the crew and the entire rescue boat will have to be scrubbed, taking it out of service for an estimated 24 hours. If there's still unquarantined crew to man it afterwards. Probably most boaters will listen and some will ignore it. But if they get in trouble there's no longer any promise of rescue being even attempted. Another pandemic consequence I hadn't foreseen. Have anyone?

Update: 1564 infected , of which 87 are in hospital - 18 in ICU. 6 are dead. 18k+ tested.

Those dead so far are all elderly with or without additional complications. The main update of the evening from the government is new emergency laws, allowing for more rapid procedures in putting new decisions into effect. There is no political opposition to this, as a mere 1/3 of the parliament's votes will be needed to revoke decisions done under this particular law. Another minor newsstory is that the border with Sweden is now guarded by 300 Army and Home Guard soldiers to deal with anyone trying to force their way in. As the soldiers are unarmed it's hardly a big measure in itself, but we haven't had this many soldiers on the Norwegian-Swedish border since we seceded from them in 1905. Of the evening's good news is that two Norwegian factories have started making tyvek suits and antibacterial alcohol, meaning our national production of antiviral products of any kind is no longer zero. Hopefully someone will get started on masks, goggles and such as well soon too.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 1632 infected , of which 96 are in hospital - 18 in ICU. 6 are dead; the average age of the first five were 89 years. 18k+ tested.

Yet another press conference. They are getting hard to follow for non-economists as the measures get more detailed and are attending to more narrow issues. The big topics coming up are of the macro-economic type. The Norwegian valuta, the krone, is taking a considerable hit since international oil prices are hurting big time. This means that US Dollars, Euros and British Pounds are at a record high. Our state bank, which usually is comfortable with a low Krone because it helps our exports, may actually choose to intercept this time. Lower lending rates, or buying Krones on the market - they won't be telling until they have actually done it.

Update: 1746 infected , of which 103 are in hospital - 18(?) in ICU. 7 are dead. 18k+ tested.

The cabin issue is now law. Staying in a cabin outside own county/municipality is now illegal and punishable with a 1500 dollar fine or up to six months in prison. Ouch. This one is going to cost the govt a lot of goodwill and be used against the ruling parties once the whole pandemic is over. There will be hell to pay for any govt politician who turns out to have spent any time at their own cabin in this period.

Update: 1778 infected , of which 104 are in hospital - 18(?) in ICU. 7 are dead. 34k+ tested. That's almost twice the number of tests since the previous update but I haven't had updated numbers in that area for days. Several hospitals say they no longer have the materials to conduct further tests until replenished. None the less we are now number four on the list of countries that have made the most tests per capita.

So far the number of people getting hospitalized follows a barely climbing linear line. That is good. The infection rate seem to follow a similar although steeper line, and if that was the reality it would be great. But all authorities acknowledge that testing is only done on that small group of people ill enough to be admitted to a hospital in the first place. Actual reality is probably an exponential rate. That is horrifying, especially because people apparently don't get immunized from being infected. So those who recover are as likely to be infected again, and could be even harder hit subsequently. This crap isn't going to fade away. We need that antivirus, and soon.

There is a change in the group of people in hospital for the virus. Whereas it was mostly very old and/or already sick people in the beginning, a rising percentage are now people younger than 50. This could indicate that also fairly young and healthy individuals can get quite sick from this.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 1794 infected , of which 105 are in hospital - 19 in ICU sith respirator. 7 are dead. 34k+ tested.

A last minute update in the cabin law; just a little adjustment to sugar the bitter pill. We aren't allowed to sleep over at cabins but now we can go on day trips. It isn't much but it makes a mile of difference for everyone with a cabin shaped hole in their hearts. It means we can go get food stores and tools and skis and other stuff we have there and always expected to have within reach, and it means we can go check that there has been no burglaries - a very real issue in parts of the country. I'll be planning a trip myself very soon. This is good news.

Update: 1922 infected , of which 135(!) are in hospital - 19 in ICU sith respirator. 7 are dead. 34k+ tested.

A big hike up in hospital cases just from this morning. Why, I don't know as yet.

There's some political brouhaha over the emergency laws the government want. The opposition parties, who are in the majority when they cooperate, do not want to hand over quite as much power as is asked for. Negotiations are ongoing and it is expected that a slightly more shaved down version will pass eventually. There are nine parties from far left to far right represented in our version of a parliament, three of which are our current minority ruling coalition, and overall they have cooperated reasonably well to handle this virus emergency. None the less; with everyone becoming less shocked by the presence of the pandemic, the population is becoming more aware of what rights they feel are being infringed upon in the process. Your average Norwegian is, to put it mildly, not meek in their opinions about what the political parties and the government do and don't do, and the distance from your average small town to the capital can some times be measured in light years. We will cooperate for now, but nothing will be forgotten and precious little will be forgiven. Once this is all done with, there will be a reckoning. And not just in the voting booth. I predict that some places who leaned harder than necessary on the people living and/or visiting them during this event, are going to find it difficult to resume to the same level of commerce and productivity where it was before. It will not matter if new local politicians are voted in; the reputation will have taken a blow that it might take many years to repair.

One Norwegian company has managed to get started making protective suits. They have an initial government order for 400.000 suits.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 2128 infected , of which 155 are in hospital - 28(?) in ICU sith respirator. 7 are dead. 49k+ tested.

The proposed 'Corona Law' was ripped to shreds as expected, and a rather more limited version was eventually voted in. The ruling parties didn't get as much power and they wanted, and the law is given only a one month lifespan before it either ends or gets a renewal vote. There is a general understanding that the law proposal was tarred more by shoddy haste work than by any evil plan to create an old school sword and sorcery monarchy like we used to be. I guess that's what happens when half the government officials are in home quarantine trying to combine national governance paperwork with childcare and Netflix.

Our capital Oslo is seemingly built exclusively out of places to drink, party or buy plastic viking hats with horns. With the drastic reduction in partygoers and souvenirshoppers a lot of places have closed for the duration, but the pubs and restaurants have had enough traffic to stay open and they have been allowed to stay open on the condition that the 3 foot personal distance rule has been obeyed. Many of these establishments, it turns out, have not bothered with this rule. As a result, as of tonight, all sale of served alcohol is now forbidden. That's going to put a dent in the careless partying, as well as in sales.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 2263 infected , of which 173 are in hospital - 33 in ICU with respirator. 7 are dead. 54k+ tested.

Probably the most quiet day yet since this started. Then again, it is Sunday.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 2532 infected , of which 195 are in hospital - 41 in ICU with respirator. 9 are dead. 61k+ tested.

Two more dead since yesterday. While another 8 were well enough to be moved out of the ICU. Which means 18 new patients have been connected to respirators.

The most recent news from the authorities are yet more economic crutches and incentives for business. Lower loan rates and so on. It is needed. During the two last weeks, 8 percent of the entire Norwegian worker population have applied for unemployment. It is unlikely that the general population gets much in the way of further financial extra support. The exception are the students, who can't normally apply for other fundings without losing their student grants and so on.

The cabin issue, weird as it is, has not gone away. The People Health Institute, which is the leading authority on the battle against covid19, has officially pointed out today that barring the private cabins of Norway from was not one of their suggestions. It's fully an initiative of certain local counties.

Someone who does mean it is the police and their new anti-infection laws. Several people have won 2000 dollar fines for intentionally coughing on someone else, whether they are infected or not. Spitting will be met with the same fine. Seriously I don't even know any other law in Norway where you can get a fine of that size; you can be sentenced to pay much bigger reparations of course under other circumstances but usually a fine is rarely more than a couple of hundred dollars at most. I kinda like that there is now a law against being a total asshole.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 2753 infected , of which 211 are in hospital - 44 in ICU with respirator. 12 are dead. 70k+ tested.

I finally left the house to do some shopping after 11 days of staying indoors. Went early in the day to minimize contact but there were some people out and about anyway. Mostly senior citizens for some reason. I was the only one attempting to protect my face. There were posters in most stores about the virus but only one place asked for only five people to be in the store at a time. Those who were in the shops made no attempt to keep their distance and some were coughing. The cashiers had gloves but nothing else. This is absolutely not promising. If it is like this everywhere in Norway even now, then the pandemic is barely beginning. Today there's a lot of rain but newsmedia have been reporting for days about many people still behaving like there is nothing special happening; walking on crowded streets, going jogging in groups on city walking paths, breaking into close off sports arenas to play football, even going swimming together. Yep, I am definitely going to stay away from people best as I can for weeks to come.

The other day the authorities announced they had managed to secure a shipment of masks and gloves, which was immediately distributed to the hospitals. In the same breath they announced that, oh, another shipment had 'gone missing' a week earlier so this time the were doing the distribution in secrecy. That's interesting. I wonder who bought all that.

Registered unemployment, which includes those on temporary layoff, is now at a whopping 10.4% of the work force. That's the biggest in Norway since WW2.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 3033 infected , of which 237 are in hospital - 57 in ICU with respirator. 14 are dead. 73k+ tested.

One day seems to be just following another now. More people get ill, more economic incentives for various group who are hurting, more social loopholes getting close down forcibly when rules are not enough. The time horizon for this event is now set as 'until Easter is over'. Exams in middle schools and high schools are officially canceled, with a possible exception for vocal exams. Instead gradings will be set on performance up until the pandemic started.

One good bit of news: crime is down. Not only is daily crime levels down, but our small army of justice dept clerks and police clerks working from home now have time to whittle down the stacks of waiting cases. I will take whatever graces this pandemic has.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 3254 infected , of which 268 are in hospital - 70 in ICU with respirator. 14 are dead. 73k+ tested. The big change since yesterday is an almost 50% increase in respirator cases.

We have also been informed today that Norway has a grand total of 682 respirators available, not including the small ones used in patient transport. But many, probably most, of these respirators are probably already in use with patients ailing other things than Corona.  A few more hundred are ordered but with the world situation as it is, they might not even get delivered this year.

Sweden, which has gone on a very different approach to the virus and kept schools open and so on, today reports 66 dead from the virus. They have twice our population but it's a big number none the less. Our border with Sweden is sewed up good and tight now.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 3443 infected , of which 307 are in hospital - 76 in ICU with respirator. 16 are dead. 73k+ tested.

Another day, another press conference. Two today already. Today's government update releases the third major economic aid package in two weeks. The billions being used to battle this pandemic go by so fast now that I can hear the numbers but the perspective is lost on me. Today's package includes money to keep an even wider scope of companies and employers above water, but also to keep state activities running at an increased level where possible. Among other things this mean paying private companies for theirs services to state units as soon as they send bills instead of on the last payable date. Sounds small but it means billions of more dollars in company accounts.

While the political opposition applauds and support almost everything the leading government do to deal with the pandemic, there are calls for further action. Of course every political opposition want more money used, but they do have a point in some areas. Taxes on both business and citizens have largely not been touched yet, nor have fresh state contracts been issued on areas like road building. In good times, of which we have had a long period, there has always been an issue to keep public spending on infrastructure down in order not to overheat the related industries. So it would be logical to increase them now of all times. This means spending more money, of course, but do we rather want to give people unemployment money or paychecks? But it's been 'only' 14 days. What will be discussed three months from now? All bets are off.

One good bit of news: The number of health personnel in quarantine is down to about 5700 now. At one time that was almost up to 9000. But they are going right back to working with infected people so I wonder how that will work out.

Update: 3689 infected (that's a 10% increase since yesterday) , of which 307 are in hospital - 76 in ICU with respirator. 17 are dead. 73k+ tested.

I had to leave the house briefly. I'm running out of my medications and needed a refueling. The apothecary is in the center of town so I saw some people. At first glance it's hard to see anything has changed. Lots of people milling about. Kids bicycling, mothers with baby carriages, adults and very old people. I was the only covered up gloves, hood and scarf covering most of me. You'd think the world haven't changed. The closest thing I could see of change was that people standing talking or passing each other were to some degree keeping a ten foot distance. In the little mall where the apothecary is there was more change. Most stores were closed. In the apothecary, only four people were allowed in at a time and there was a 1 meter line on the floor to keep people away from the cashier as much as possible.

Sweden reports new Corona death numbers. 92. That's 30 up from yesterday.

My local county stood with zero infection for two weeks. I'm checking the local numbers now and today the infected are 10. It doesn't shock me. I see how people are still behaving and I know how much contact we have with the neighboring counties and towns. It was inevitable. But it still makes an impact. If there are 10 today, there'll be 100 in a week.

I am on meds that can tranquilize a buffalo. One of the sleep pills I use every night qualify as a narcotic. I need it, too. But accordingly it is prescribed me so strictly that I am only allowed the next box when the last pill of the previous is spent. Today I was allowed the next box with one pill still left in the previous. In the more than a decade I have been on this stuff, that has never happened before. I also didn't have to sign for receiving it, which also has never happened before.

Update: 3689 infected, of which 307 are in hospital - 76 in ICU with respirator. 19 are dead. 78k+ tested.

There are promising news. Norway is the first country to start testing covid91-antiserums under WHO guidance. 22 of our hospitals tomorrow starts large scale testing of the following remedies: hydroksyklorokin (an old medicine against malaria) and remdesivir (an ebola antivirus). Other countries are to follow soon.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 3973 infected, of which 292 are in hospital - 82 in ICU with respirator. 22 are dead. 82k+ tested. Among further data the number of quarantined health personnel is now down to less than 5000, although the infected ones are almost doubled to 400. There's a lot of nurses and doctors who is back at work now. I'm not saying Norway has this pandemic in check but the total and increases of numbers per capita compared to any other country are mercifully low. Of the 22 dead, all but one were around 90 years old and had additional ailments. The government has been hoping and praying for at least a slow spread of the virus so our hospital resources could deal with them, and the indications are that they got it. They have not been alone in hoping and praying. If we can hang in a few weeks more and if there is a vaccine soon then we might get through this without a need for mass graves.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 4235 infected, of which 316 are in hospital - 91 in ICU with respirator. 25 are dead. 85k+ tested. I guess yesterday's little slack in hospital cases went back to the estimate prognosis line.

There was supposed to be a press conference today where the government lined up the local county authorities and gave them a unified set of quarantine rules. Since the pandemic started there has been a lot of local rules and laws, like the forbidding of cabin stayovers or mandatary quarantine for anyone coming to visit from outside the county, and they are increasingly clashing not just with each other but also with the needs of farmers and factories who rely on people coming to work for them. This press conference today was canceled just before it was going to start, apparently because one of the tiniest parties in the ruling faction (we are talking parties with 3% of the voters) snuck in a sentence at the last minute making the new common rules not mandatory, making the whole exercise pointless because it is the most rebellious counties that have the strictest local laws and they'll literally only toe the line if they face a firing squad.

A personal issue yesterday. My family has a couple of cabins in the woods and hills. For much of the year its a biblical paradise but in winter the road there is not for the faint of heart or the weak of engine. Yesterday my dad wanted to come with him there to fix a ladder for the fireplace controller from the county, which would have been a two hour trip back and forth. No problem in itself; personally I plan for trouble and my car is full of emergency gear specifically for those roads because I have needed it and not had it before. My dad is more optimistic and occasionally forget he is closing in on 80. So I am happy to tag along when my dad ask; it's a nice little trip and I can be useful. But yesterday when my dad arrived on my door to pick me up I was forced to reveal my little health secret - I'm possibly infected. I've been keeping this a secret to my parents, because they worry and worry about things that aren't their problems and then they start trying to fix them. There is a whole lot of things in my life that I have never told them because I didn't consider it to be their business. I assume I am normal in this? Anyway I was obliged to tell my dad this one. He is old, but he is also in bad health and is in the prime risk group for the virus. I offered to come anyway because I knew I'd probably be needed, but we agreed that there was a considerable risk of infecting him if I was infected like I think I am. So he went off alone. In a heavy snowfall. Along country roads that probably doesn't get tended much in the middle of the pandemic. The roads were as bad as I feared, he slid off the road and got stuck, and it took 3 hours and a farmer buddy with a tractor to pull him out of there. I feel like shit about the whole thing. Could I have made a difference? I mean I am capable of walking the last couple of miles in uphill snow, and I am capable of getting the small hand winch from the cabin and get a car out of a ditch. But am I capable of not infecting someone while steaming from sweat and damp snow? I only know what did happen. But for the corona thing I would have been there to help.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 4313 infected, of which 319 are in hospital - 97 in ICU with respirator. 31 are dead. 87k+ tested. There's a 20% raise in death numbers just since yesterday, while the total of infected and tested appears to stand more or less still. Odd. Apparently this is because some hospitals have not sent in reports to central authorities until Monday morning. There's still a lot of coverage on every death and I suspect some of the hospitals and nursing homes are getting worried their names are getting mentioned in a negative connection too often. But I equally suspect that it being Monday morning, the nurses are finding people dead who were alive when they last checked on them before the weekend. Norway doesn't really have nursing homes other than for the very elderly so a lot of people well above their 80s just gets a visit from a nurse a few days per week. Another chilling number I found yesterday: 200 of the infected are children or at most 18 years old. This has gotten absolutely no coverage until today. Thankfully none of them are on respirators, but it is still 5% of the total.

Norway has a triple layer of administration. The government with its departments is on top. On the next level are the counties. I use the word with some caution because there is just a handful of them and they cover fairly large areas but can still have relatively few people living there. They have only a limited amount of functions now in the computer age. The local authority is the municipality. I mention this because the county next to my county has now blocked all traffic between the two of them. Which essentially mean that anyone going from here to there is put in two week quarantine. I have no errands there so it won't affect me, but it is pretty drastic for anyone who lives on one side of the line and do all their work and shopping on the other line.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 4593 infected, of which 321 are in hospital - 97 in ICU with respirator. 35 are dead. 90k+ tested.

The government parties have had a solid ruckus overnight with the opposition parties over the revisioned third emergency help package. One of the items was an extra loan to the students, which has gone from being all loan to partly a stipend, meaning they won't all have it back. Studying in Norway is different from most other countries in that the parents don't fund it but the state, so anyone bright enough to go to college can afford it. This funding is three part. One, the school themselves are free (which makes us extremely popular with foreign students). Two, the students apply for loans supposedly big enough to pay for the cost of living and pay back after they start working. Three, there are stipends on top of this that helps to balance for the cost of living in cities and away from parents. Also some students get their loans partially changed to stipends under certain conditions. A doctor choosing to work in the sparsely populated north will get a lot of their loan changed to stipend.

Note on Norwegian politics. Our parliament, which roughly equals the US congress, consists of nine parties. Three now make the ruling but minority faction. The opposition is in total in solid majority but spread from far left to far right so the minority ruling faction will be holding until the next election. We have had a right wing ruling faction for soon 7 years now after breaking many years of socialist rule. Right now there's no political commentator who can guess what will happen after the next election because the pandemic blows all estimates out of the water. The situation now is that the ruling faction cooks up plans for what to do and then negotiates with the unusually unified opposition on what to do. The two biggest socialist parties and the farmer's party have been a ruling faction in the past. The far right party is almost as big as the main right wing party and recently left the ruling faction. That they now can cooperate with the old socialist wing is really weird to watch for us who remember what the world was like two months ago. As far as I can see this situation in total means that some strict laws get watered down and more money is used on a wider group of needy. The two last parties are small and live in a different world. One is best described as neo-communist and the other is hard core environmentalists. They don't want to give the industries help at all because large scale permanent closedowns would be good for the environment and workers don't vote for them anyway - they have about 6% of the voters combined. A kind of thinking the rest of the parties don't want to play along with. So it is about 50/50 them refusing to discuss giving money to the industries and 50/50 the other parties don't want to waste time letting the fanatics prance and obfuscate. I am happy with this development. It is pretty clear that we would have different policies if the ruling faction had been in the majority. And also all the negotiations are moved from inside the ruling faction to the main parliament. Whenever this miserable period ends, almost all the parties will have supported the specific choices made. That's how a government should handle a real crisis.

Necessity is the mother of all invention, it's said. A few factories here have started to make masks and coats and so on. Somewhat surprisingly, the hospitals are joining in. One hospital fired up a 3D printer and a design program, and made a face visor like the industrial type from a few bottles of plastic goo and an ubiqutous A4 clear plastic sheet. The printer is going day and night now to cover local need and I hope they'll distribute the design. Another hospital here was down to the last handful of virus test and a guy went down to the lab and made a new test. If I understand correctly it uses magnets to part the virus from its host. They have tested this new test on a hundred cases with 100% score and it's being manufactured and distributed to local needs as we speak. I hope this one too gets distributed elsewhere fast. Normally there's a 10 YEAR test period before stuff like this is sent out on the market. We don't have that luxury now.

Update: 4623 infected, of which 319 are in hospital - 97 in ICU with respirator. 39 are dead. 90k+ tested. Also the numbers of infected hospital staff remains on a linear rise, but the number of hospital staff in quarantine sinks on an opposite linear line. The latter number is now less than half of what it was a week ago.

Two weeks ago, an oil engineer phoned a defense subdepartment with an idea. He'd heard about the shortage of respirators and had an idea. Two weeks later, today, the result was presented to us. The idea is tantalizingly simple. All hospitals already have a manual breathing device, basically a rubber bladder with a mouthpiece, which lets a doctor or nurse pump air to the patient by hand. Obviously just a tool for a few minute's work. The device unveiled today looks like something a redneck would put together in the garage - a mechanic hand connected to such a bladder, with just a can of electric controllers and wires keeping the system going and going and going. And it works marvellously. Between the engineer, the defense guys and an oil equipment company the whole thing went from idea to fully functioning in shorter time than it normally takesjust to arrange a meeting. Design. Development. Prototype testing. Production starts tomorrow morning. The initial order is for 1000 emergency respirators. Compare this with the fact that Norway's total inventory of respirators are just 600, many of which are already in use. I predict that further orders will be placed before even the first crate of finished respirators are out the door.

I have spent more than two hours watching press conferences today. It's getting a bit much.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 4828 infected, of which 323 are in hospital - 105 in ICU with respirator. 43 are dead. 94k+ tested. Also my own little municipality is one up, to 11 infected. Of course only the tested as infected are counted.

The emergency respirators mentioned yesterday were met with some critic, primarily from the nurses' union who feels this is a wrong priority from the government when they should be upping nurse wages instead and pay for more nurse students. The union leader just so happens to be a firebrand who took power in a coup inside the union a little while back and since then gets published in the one communist newspaper we have on a regular basis. Her criticism has been answered with this being an emergency machine for an emergency situation. A makeshift respirator should be great in a situation where you can quickly end up with the Italian situation where the oldest and most infirm don't get a respirator at all, and die. Meanwhile 400 more regular respirators are on order to the normal foreign factories but when delivery will happen is highly uncertain. I'll be following the further outrages from this activist union leader with considerable interest.

We still follow Swedish numbers, and with rising worry. Apparently 59 MORE dead since just yesterday, and the Swedish authorities are indicating the numbers could be a week old since they don't really have a reporting system for the pandemic. With a current total of 239 dead they have about 6 times as many dead as Norway. Yet about the same in hospital?

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 5131 infected, of which 316 are in hospital - 98 in ICU with respirator. 50 are dead. 98k+ tested. That's a 10% jump of dead since yesterday. All but one or two of all who have died are very old, bringing the average corona deceased age to 84. About 5% of all who were tested, and only those with suspicious symptoms are test, had positive tests. In all about 1% of those known to be infected have died.

I'm getting pretty sick of government press conferences. The gist of today was a promise to business that regular costs like rent etc would be refunded from 70% to 90%. That's a 2 billion dollar promise and will make a difference between make and break for a lot of companies, and the jobs they have to offer.

12% of the Norwegian work force including those temporarily laid off have now registered as unemployed. Before the outbreak it was 4%.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 5519 infected, of which 322 are in hospital - 96 in ICU with respirator. 60 are dead, which is a 20% increase from two days ago. 102k+ tested. There's just a third as many hospital staff in quarantine as two weeks ago. Overall the curves of infected people in hospital with and without respirators are practically flat.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 5648 infected, of which 307 are in hospital - 89 in ICU with respirator. 66 are dead, which is a 10% increase from yesterday. 108k+ tested. Most curves are now tangenting on flat, not just linear. This is very good.

Political polls have been ticking in the last week. It is not surprising that the ruling faction gets better numbers now than in a long time. They have handled the pandemic well and have had to seek support from the other parties for decisions, but also Norwegians traditionally support their leadership in times of crisis.

There is some discussion of opening some of the many restrictions that have been imposed on us. Like reopening some schools and kindergartens in areas where no infection have been registered yet. However there's massive resistance to the idea in the relevant local leaderships to do this soon. A few outdoor sports arenas are reopened for some activity though and I guess we'll find out how wise that is, soon enough.

In a normal year, the Easter tourism would be massive right now. Full hotels and winter sports areas, full cabins, lots of people going to souther Europe, full trains, full buses, full planes. Instead we all sit at home. Even the hotly debated cabin issue is sort of out debated now, and we are resigned that this whole spring is a bust. Even the churches are going to be empty. Religion in Norway is an odd thing; the generations for whom going to church every Sunday was natural are long gone and outside family events and Christmas and Easter, the churches are virtually empty but for a few white haired visitors the rest of the year. Many are no longer open at all. Now however there will be video transfers online from the sermons. Considering how infirm the remaining loyals are, it might be an actual improvement for them.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 5760 infected, of which 314 are in hospital - 83 in ICU with respirator. That's 20% down from the 103 we had on respirator a little while ago. 76 are dead, which is a 10% increase from yesterday. 111k+ tested. Also the number of hospital staff in quarantine is now down to 2000 - from almost 8000 at the top. While we still get more deaths added to the total, almost everyone who has died until now were approaching 90 and had additional severe illnesses as well.

Keeping these numbers in mind, it was none the less a shock today to hear the health minister declare that the pandemic is now under control here. The rate of infected people infecting more people is now lower than 1:1, which means the total of infected should start to decline unless something big happens. Lots of ifs but it is very encouraging.

On the other hand. I went shopping again today. Normally I shop groceries twice per week just to get out of the house, but now it is once per two weeks. I buy the same as before, only more of it, and the only point in shopping less is minimizing exposure to the guys who pretend pandemia can have no consequences to them or their loved ones. Shops are full of food, no empty shelves to see. I practically haven't touched my prepped stuff yet. All of that is good. What is weird is that the shops I went to were full of people. Families with children, some of them very small. Very old and very infirm people. And there I was - the only one covered up to the brow in clothes, gloves, scarf, everything. People weren't even trying to keep distance. Some people were washing their hands but that was the sole concession. I feel like I am either developing paranoia, or I am watching other news than everyone else.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 5865 infected, of which 281 are in hospital (10% down from yesterday)- 78 in ICU with respirator (the lowest number in weeks).  88 are dead, which is a 10% increase from yesterday. 113k+ tested. The reinfectation rate, the number of people each infected will pass it on to, is now down to 0.7.

Today's press conference underlined how things are overall changing for the better. Starting from the 20th April, two weeks from now, the kindergartens are reopening. Chiropractors, hairdressers and other physical personal services will cautiously reopen. A week after that, on the 27th, a lot of other things will be reinstated: school reopens for the four lowest age classes in elementary school, and for the oldest groups in technical high school who need access to machinery to study. Also colleges and universities will get started for at least some of the students. There are also other loosenings of the screws for minor relevant groups. And for me personally it's joyous that going to the cabin and sleep over will be legal again from that date. I have so much farmwork waiting for me.

All of the above hinges on the key curves continuing to fall, and that legions of teachers and kindergarten staff get the necessary pandemic training and equipment up to those dates. But everyone are supermotivated to get back to ordinary life and I doubt any sniffling kid will be allowed to be at kindergarten or school for more than half an hour before getting sent back home. We will be on war footing for months ahead, maybe years, if 'normality' ever does return. But... now perhaps we can start planning for afterwards.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 6052 infected, of which 257 are in hospital (10% down from yesterday, on top of 10% down the day before that)- 70 in ICU with respirator (also 10% down from yesterday).  93 are dead. 113k+ tested.

One of the issues we've had with the pandemic are the prisons. The Norwegian justice system has its faults but it isn't lax. Compared to our neighbors Sweden, Denmark and Finland we have a higher percentage of the population in the jail (although still only a tenth of as many as USA has in prison by percentage) and we have tougher laws. A drug smuggler of some size risks being twice as long in prison here as in Sweden, gram for gram. And we also send more foreigners in prison, because we get a lot of eastern european criminals here doing smuggling and in particular theft. About 7 years ago, when a long period of socialist rule ended, we had a massive backlist of sentenced people waiting in freedom to serve their prison term and frequently doing new crimes while they waited. The new right wing government tackled this by renting empty prisons in Netherlands - to massive criticism from the socialists - and filling them with mostly the foreigners who were going to be deported after serving their sentences. This cut a large swathe in prison space and queues and by last year, the combination of this and the building of new local prisons had resolved the issue so the leasing could end. Except many of our older prisons still have a lot of two man rooms. This isn't in itself a problem because a lot of people feel being alone on single cell is an extra sentence. However, que in the pandemic. The double rooms have become an issue and today we have been told how it has been resolved this time. 260 convicts, of something like 4000 serving at any time, who have served most of their sentences have been released. This is a shortening from a few days to a couple of weeks for each. Obviously those were all non-violent cases. As a result there are now 0, zero, prisoners left with a mate in their cell. I won't say I approve because justice shouldn't work that way and we now have 260 more criminals among us, but on the other hand they are now subject to the same fun of being in quarantines and isolation as the rest of us so maybe it's not entirely unfair. And the risk of prisons turning into sick homes with hundreds of corona cases is considerably lessened.

---

Yet another hour-and-half of press conferences, which was more in the line of wrapping things up before the govt guys and journalists head home for Easter than presenting much in the way of news. The most interesting numbers given were that the average age of the about 6000 infected is 48 and evenly male and female patients, while the average age of infected dying is now up to 90.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 6085 infected, of which 252 are in hospital - 70 in ICU with respirator.  105 are dead (10% up since yesterday). 121k+ tested. 8000 More tested since yesterday, but this number has probably not been correctly up to day for a while. Also most of the other numbers are unchanged since yesterday so I doubt they are up to date either.

Otherwise it's officially Easter holidays. Probably won't be much in the way of news for a while. But we can all use a breather. Literally.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 6233 infected, of which 233 are in hospital (10% down from yesterday) - 67 in ICU with respirator.  111 are dead. 123k+ tested.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 6360 infected, of which 220 are in hospital - 64 in ICU with respirator.  114 are dead. 123k+ tested. All numbers that can go down keeps going down and there's no change for the rest.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 6459 infected, of which 216 are in hospital - 59 in ICU with respirator.  123 are dead. 126k+ tested. Also, my own litttle municipality has 15 infected. 1300 hospital staff are still in quarantine but that is down from amost 8000 at the top.

When the pandemic started here, every hospital in the country clamped down and canceled all scheduled operations and treatment that wasn't life critical, in fear of a massive load of corona patients coupled with many of the staff being absent. Also most of the doctors in medical centers accepted only patients with suspected symptoms. Now this has been going on for what, five weeks, and the backlog for the hospitals for ordinary patients is growing faster and faster. As a consequence of the pandemic appearing to be petering out under current conditions, there is talk of opening some medical facilities for normal operations again. Most places can do this while also serving the pandemic patients because they already have special entrances, quarters and routines for the pandemic ones. We have an abundance of staff too, after students and pensioners and anyone else with a medical license of any kind were drummed into the ranks. So I expect medical business to be resumed to some degree within the next few days, for the less weak patients anyway. Most of those who have died so far have been the very elderly from nursing homes, not ordinary hospital patients.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 6527 infected, of which 214 are in hospital - 58 in ICU with respirator.  128 are dead. 126k+ tested.

19 Norwegian doctors and nurses have been sent to Italy to help out in one of the hospitals there, since a few days ago. All of the patients there are of the pandemic variety. There's a language barrier since many older Italians don't speak English but a number of Italian assistants and translators are making it possible.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 6569 infected, of which 204 are in hospital - 53 in ICU with respirator.  136 are dead. 127k+ tested.

It's the first week day after Easter. I assume there will be a press conference in a few hours.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 6686 infected, of which 201 are in hospital - 53 in ICU with respirator.  140 are dead. 128k+ tested.

Looks like the press conference I expected yesterday will be today instead.

One of our smallest prisons have a minor virus outbreak. About 8 prisoners and guards in all. Fortunately the prison is on a small island. Being a low security prison they have a mess hall, so no wonder it spreads once it got in there.

Our national day is 17th of May, and is famous for its endless school children parades with marching bands and the streets thronged with spectators. The big city parades are now all canceled and I expect many of the smaller ones to follow suit.

---

Update: 6740 infected, of which 194 are in hospital - 52 in ICU with respirator.  145 are dead. 130k+ tested. This means that we are dipping below 200 in hospital since the start of the pandemic here. The respirator cases are also on a new low. We still get new deaths but afaik the average age of the dead is still 90. This is higher even than the normal average longevity in Norway. A bit more of half of those occured at nursing homes for the very elderly, with most of the rest happened at hospital. In all we have just a handful of cases of people being found dead at home. Typically these have been home nursed with medical staff showing up on intervals. In Norway just about everyone who can still get to the bathroom on their own and don't need medication help are at home even at very advanced age. One side effect is that the nursing home is usually where most people die after a short stay. In my youth I went to a school next to a nursing home and the flag was at half mast most days.

This evening's press conference was spent underlining that there is no fear among the authorities for the health of the small children now returning to kindergarten and the lower half of elementary school. Among other things they refered to Sweden, which has not closed schools and kindergartens at all and still have had no child deaths. There is more worry that healthy children will carry the virus from infected people to uninfected in the risk groups, so a lot of safety measures will be in place. Things will be different at these reopening places.

Of other news is a statement from the justice department that crime is down and accidents are down, while the number of police is rising by 400.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 6794 infected, of which 179 are in hospital - 52 in ICU with respirator.  152 are dead. 130k+ tested. Most of these numbers are the same or nearly the same as yesterday. Second day in a row with less than 200 in hospital.

Several of our larger hospitals are now reducing their alert state and resuming some of their normal activities, and getting started on the backlog of canceled operations.

One hospital had a situation yesterday where an isolated patient in a secure unit suddenly became infected, causing 40 staff people and patients to be put in quarantine. The cause seemed to be a temp worker who had not even been part of the treatment team, but just walked into the room briefly on an errand. A lesson for many to learn from.

Evening update: hardly any change in numbers.

The big story from the authorities today is the unleashing of... an app. Yes, and it gets worse. "Smittestopp" (translates to 'Infectionstopper') is a phone app that they want the entire population to install on their cell phones so people can see if they are in the vicinity of someone who is infected. My head hurts and I am not alone in being aghast. And it gets, yes, worse. Because this cute little thing will report everybody's movement to the authorities' central server. Hellooooo Big Brother. The authorities swear that everything will be anonymized, that the data will be erased within 30 days and the application itself will terminate in December. And if you buy that, I have a bridge I want to sell you. Now I can understand why a lot of people WILL install it. It's the new cool gadget to play with, and they can see who else in the room is or isn't infected, and the Norwegian authorites aren't known for heavy duty home espionage. Bullshit. Thrice over. Already the authorities have by-the-second updated maps of which cellphones are where, and that's fully established fact. And the application assumes that the user can't lie. 'No I don't have the virus, honestly, just show me who say they have it'. And I bet you good money that at least four separate foreign espionage organizations have already gained their way into this system and they are SO not going to delete the data they harvest. Plus Google, of course. And who is making the platform for your phone's operating system again? Feel safe yet? I realize I am a cynical oldtimer and I don't have a single app on my phone anyway. But I am a cynical oldtimer with experience in running state IT systems. I'll rather drown my cell phone in something horrible than install this thing.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 6905 infected, of which 164 are in hospital - 54 in ICU with respirator. 158 are dead. 136k+ tested.

The number of infected reflects how many have tested positive. About 95% of those tested so far were negatives. However the number does NOT show the total because there has been no followup tests to check if they still are infected, so the number can only go up. It is meaningless anyway with just 3% of the population tested.

Gah. Another necessary grocery shopping trip. Another dull disappointment. Looks like I am still the only guy in town who see a point in covering up my face. No one were cleaning their hands as suggested at the entry. The poster said 'no more than 8 inside the store please' but when I left there were more like 28. And people bunch up, have conversations... 2.5% of the local town population is registered infected, but judging by today's behavior it is probably closer to 25%. I wonder how many of our oldest are dying because of their relatives going shopping then visiting? We'll never know because practically nobody are getting tested in the first place, including those in the nursing homes. I feel like I am either the only one here who got the memo, or the only one who didn't get it: "Disregard all public information and requirements. A couple of hundred thousand people have died from this but YOU probably won't, so whatever. Of course everyone else will stand on their head to help and protect YOU if you should get trouble, but that doesn't obligate you to make any concessions. Go on and do nothing. Have a nice day."

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 6992 infected, of which 153 are in hospital - 47 in ICU with respirator. 162 are dead. 136k+ tested. Hospital and respirator cases are the lowest since we passed the summit of the curve.

Otherwise, no news.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 7069 infected, of which 154 are in hospital - 46 in ICU with respirator. 165 are dead. 142k+ tested. In all, only minor changes.

The "Smittestopp" application is everything I thought it would be. After two days it has been downloaded a whopping 1.3 million times, which is pretty good in a 5 million population. It is also being deleted on a whopping scale. Users complain of it hogging cpu and battery resources. That's nothing. External security experts now confirm that it is like wearing a tracker. Computer guys will understand the issue a permanent addressing number poses? Want to stalk someone? Get a visual on them while you read off their address and you can now follow their footsteps all day long. Women with safety alarms must feel SO safe. Of course you can do something similar with any cell phone but you need high tech spy gear for it. Not so in this case. And all the makers needed to do was install rapidly rechanging addresses like all laptops have. Since the entire government leadership all boast of having this installed I expect they'll put effort into fixing it. Because someone could get killed, or just followed and raped, after trusting our illuminated government with their cell phones in this. It probably be any of the leaders because I didn't believe their boasts for a second. Like hell they would walk around with trackers the public has access to.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 7095 infected, of which 165 are in hospital - 43 in ICU with respirator. 168 are dead. 142k+ tested. In all, only minor changes. Respirator cases keep going lower.

Today a number of things have been scheduled to happen. The dreaded ban on cabin sleepovers finally end and I doubt it will return. It has been universally hated, but also the minor counties where most of the cabins are have not been anywhere near overwhelmed by local cases. Rather the opposite. Heavy handed as the isolation and quarantine rules have been, it seems like they have worked. Now the fist need to be opened some because ironically, the more effective the lockdown the less necessery it feel to retain it. Other important things happening are that the kindergarten and the lower half of elementary school reopens today. Many have said they feel it is too soon, and we don't really know how many will show up today. What we do know is that some countries haven't kept their children at home at all during the pandemic and they have no deaths among them

Another thing started yesterday. Norway has conscription, meaning recruits are considered and then called in for a year of training and service within Norwegian borders. (For foreign service we only use enlisted.) Recruits intakes are four times a year to maximise the boot camps usefulness. This April is one of them; obviously there has been a lot of talk about what to do during the pandemic. One does not drop an entire intake without big consequences, nor can it be postphoned. Ours is a small country and it shares a border with Russia, so military issues are always dramatic. So the armed forces have come up with a brave decision. Intakes go as normal. Service will be odd though, with groups reduced to five people for social and training. Not a single home leave or leaving camp grounds during boot camp. Intensive testing for virus at arrival and later. I doubt we have had an upheaval of that order during training since the Cold War ended.

Update: no biggies

The hell with it. Today I went shopping like it was February. I had multiple reasons to to a specific hardware store in the next town, and for the first time in six weeks I dropped the bank robber bandana and the gloves, even the closed tight jacket and hood, and suddenly I looked like all the other shoppers. Fortunately the store was huge so I only passed other people every 30 seconds in the aisles. Washed my hands with antibac from the dispensers about seven times though. I figure if I am going to get seriously sick then this is a good as a time for it as any and I am already living like I am infected, so what am I waiting for? It won't be two weeks until my next visit to a store. Unless I get sick of course. Ha ha.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 7156 infected, of which 148 are in hospital - 42 in ICU with respirator. 181 are dead. 143k+ tested. The average age of those dying remains very high.

Kindergarten reopened yesterday. Reports in so far indicate about 75% of the kids showed up. Speculations as yet are that some parent want to wait a bit longer, while others have slightly older children who can't yet start at school again until theirs reopen. We'll see how long that will last. Once kids find out their friends have been allowed to go but not them there'll be a ruckus.

[Captain Maltese]

Update: 7241 infected, of which 133 are in hospital - 33 in ICU with respirator (9 down since yesterday). 183 are dead. 148k+ tested.

I am running out of new stuff to comment on. Life is returning toward something resembling normal. Government measures are all about getting the wheels going again now. While there are many blockages still in effect, the border control has not been eased one inch and inland traveling is still heavily curtailed, the worst of the dread is gone. I guess this is like being in a war after your homelands aren't being bombed any more.

[Captain Maltese]

First update in four days:
7511 infected, of which 123 are in hospital - 31 in ICU with respirator. 201 are dead. 155k+ tested. Basically all curves that aren't cumulative are going downwards, slowly. Deaths keep climbing but now it's down to one or two per day. We have had two people die in the age group 40 to 50 altogether and none below. There has been two outbreaks in closed locations; one on an island, another on a home for the elderly; these case are clamped down on hard and are highly unlikely to spread outside initial parameters.

During this week something like 1300 new recruits, entering their conscription year, have been tested and isolated. Conscription being only for the most fit and healthy (and motivated) within the age groups, these could still be infected. 99.8% of these 19 year olds turned out to be uninfected, as in being neither infected or formerly infected. The 2 - two - cases reported are in isolation on base and will continue their service as soon as they are clear. No doubt the entire military medical service is following their every breath as it is a rare opportunity for our armed forces to deal with a viral outbreak.

[Captain Maltese]

It is what, five days since the last update?
7770 infected, of which 84 (down from 123!) are in hospital - 30 in ICU with respirator. 210 are dead. 172k+ tested. All numbers than can drop are dropping, and the bad cumulative numbers are standing almost still.

This happens as the same time that kindergartens have been open for two weeks and lower elementary schools have been open for one. Hairdressers are open too now and the queues are massive. For my part I'm just half an inch from having to start a ponytail or join a heavy metal band. Culture will still be restrained for an unknown time; all public events must have a maximum of 50 participants which makes concerts impossible and soccer without paying visitors can't pay player wages.

There aren't really any other news.

[Captain Maltese]

Four days since the last update.
7904 infected (134 up), of which 71 (down 13) are in hospital - 27 in ICU with respirator (down 4). 214 are dead (up 4). 189k+ tested (17k up). The number of hospital staff in quarantine which was at one point close to eight thousand, is now down to less than six hundred. At this point the number of badly afflicted is just a very small part of the total of currently hospitalized for all sorts of reasons. And we now have several days in a row where noone dies from corona at all.

I did some shopping errands yesterday. The signs of there being a pandemic are vanishing. Lots of people in the stores and noone seems to maintain a distance anymore - but then, the authorities have said that keeping a 1 m distance instead of 2 m is now okay. Posters reminding people to wash hands and keep distance are mostly gone, and so are the bottles of antiseptic fluid that were everywhere at the shop doors for a while.

The corona coverage in Norwegian news are also waning and other types of news stories are getting the first priority now. There are no more daily press conferences.

The numbers of unemployed are finally starting to sink again. For a while we had more than 420 000 people on the dole - in a population of five million. Just 12 000 down since last week, but it means 12 000 could return to the job they had before this pandemic hit us. It's a long way down to the 3.2% unemployment rate we had in January, but every job regained is going to help one worker and their family get back to normal.

[Captain Maltese]

Three days later:
8034 infected, of which 59 (down 12) are in hospital - 16 in ICU with respirator (down 11). 218 are dead. 195k+ tested.

Some big announcements yesterday. All schools of all types are allowed to reopen next Monday. Probably it will take a few days more for many as two days to get ready will be difficult for many schools. On the bright side, this is what we have been waiting for so they have had plenty of time to prepare. Also public events including weddings and concerts up to 200 attendees are allowed again, provided the one meter distance rule is still obeyed. Another announcement will have impact for a lot of people; the official bank rate is set down to 0% for the first time ever. Provided the banks respond as expected and reduce their own rates, a lot of people will find it a little easier to service their loans for a while.

I tried to get a haircut today, but was informed the waiting time for an appointment is a whopping month. I'll have to take matters into my own hands.

[Captain Maltese]

Four days later:
8132 infected, of which 58 (down 1) are in hospital - 16 in ICU with respirator (unchanged). 224 are dead. 195k+ tested.

This week school resume for all age groups. With about four weeks left of scheduled lessons there's already talk of summer classes for some, but online home education has overall been a success. In fact, some pupils and students who were struggling before the pandemic started have thrived and gained better results than before. There are enough such positive surprise cases than a state study will look into it and see if something can be learned and improved on here. In Norway the public schools massively outvolume private schools and homeschooling is so rare as to be almost extinct. But we have as many kids who struggle as any other western country none the less.

What is not a success is the 'Smittestopper' cellphone app which was supposed to help people avoid infected people. The naive idea of the state was to make an application that lets everybody register if they themselves have infection or symptoms or not, and then one could walk in the street and the app would go ping if someone with symptoms or infection came too close. George Orwell would have been so proud. From a personal privacy angle this is tantamount to ringing a bell every ten feet and shouting 'INFECTED', Plague style. Even worse, this is a fantastic way to track every step you take - or the steps you are interested in following, if you have some computer skills and ill intentions. I have already voiced my concern about this crap and so have about every security professional on the planet. By now we have some statistics from the state, which conveniently does not include any crimes done through this tool. About 1.5 million people of a population of five million have downloaded it. Which means the chances that anyone you meet on the street ever downloaded it, are 30%. However, four(?) weeks after it was introduced less than 50% of the downloaders still has it on their cellphone. Now the chances of that random guy passing you on the street telling you by his cellphone that he has symptoms or infections, is down to just 15%. AND he might just happen to not register that he IS infected because that is socially awkward. And considering how many people install an app and don't use it intentionally ever again, I'd say the odds of you walking down the street and getting as much as a ping are very very remote. This is a waste of taxpayer money at a time when we need them for other things, a waste of normally very solid faith in the government, an ineptly planned campaign - and we still haven't seen the statistics for criminal abuse of this "Wunderwaffe".

[Captain Maltese]

Three days later:
8196 infected, of which 58 are in hospital - 13 in ICU with respirator (down 3). 232 are dead. 216k+ tested.

The vast majority of those registered as infected no longer have any symptoms. The number 8196 includes everyone testing positive during the last two months.

Of the deaths attributed to the virus, about 95% happened to people aged 84 or more, and about 95% happened to people with other serious health issues.

Unsurprisingly, the 'Smittestopp' cellphone app is in deep shit. It was offered from the government as a tool strictly for letting people know if their nearest passing people were infected so they could maintain minimum presense. Now it has been revealed, to nobody but the politicians' apparent childlike surprise, that the state has been using the system to track infected people and use it as a data gathering tool for statistics. This is stuff the system was not legally approved for. Somebody's pants are on fire. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority, which is a powerful independent national board for the protection of individual privacy, are now investigating these breaches and may throw a monkey wrench in the entire system.

There are now government signals that there will be some easening on the border control, like in other European countries. Norwegian borders were shut and shut hard as the gravity of the situation came on to us. Going back to how it was is not happening any time soon. The massive international tourist traffic from Norway is not resuming this summer. The government strongly advises tourists to explore our own country this summer. Also the traffic into Norway from other country will likely be just a small fraction of what it usually is. Job travel will be eased somewhat; already the obligatory 14 day quarantine is reduced to 10 days. That's not going to bring much joy for business travelers, but for seasonal farming workers the entire quarantine is removed as long as the traveler have no symptoms.

The Baltic countries and other European cluster nations are now working on freeing the borders inside their groups, where they have the same level of infection. This is now refered to as 'travel corridors'. Norway is also discussing such measures, with the other Scandinavian countries except Sweden as they have chosen a radically different approach and are considered to have much more infection.

Some good news: After the arrival of the corona virus, other infectious illnesses are registered down with 70%.

[clonkertink]

Unsurprisingly, the 'Smittestopp' cellphone app is in deep shit. It was offered from the government as a tool strictly for letting people know if their nearest passing people were infected so they could maintain minimum presense. Now it has been revealed, to nobody but the politicians' apparent childlike surprise, that the state has been using the system to track infected people and use it as a data gathering tool for statistics. This is stuff the system was not legally approved for. Somebody's pants are on fire. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority, which is a powerful independent national board for the protection of individual privacy, are now investigating these breaches and may throw a monkey wrench in the entire system.

Having looked at the online info for Smittestopp, my first instinct is to say, "Well, how else are they supposed to do that?" All that data has to go somewhere, in order for the app to work as intended. Of course it's tracking infected individuals. It has to, in order to tell when someone comes within 6 feet of them.

And while a lot of machine learning is a black box, there's still going to be people looking at that data - they have to in order to make sure that the app is working properly. Running statistical inference on that data is essential to making the app work. And in the process you're gonna learn some things about trends and hotspots.

As someone who's learned a thing or two about Data Science for work, the moment I heard the premise the app, my first thought was, "This will be used to gather epidemiological data, and better understand the spread of the virus." Alerting users that they have been within 6 feet of an infected individual is the "selling point" - it makes users want to use the app, because it gives them helpful information.

Which isn't to say I think they behaved ethically. I think the intention was good, but you've gotta be really upfront and transparent with people - most of whom don't fully understand how much data they give up every time they use any app of any kind. Would that have passed muster and gotten approved? That's a good question. If approved, would it have gotten as many users? Unlikely, but hopefully enough people would still sign up to give valuable epidemiological insights.

In this case, I don't think there's anything truly sinister going on (though lord knows data can be collected and used for sinister purposes), but people need to be better informed about such things.

[Captain Maltese]

You have some good points. Yes, it is highly unlikely that the Norwegian government has evil intentions for the system. In the 75 years since WW2 there has hardly been any incidents where cruel masterminds in state employ were abusing the trust given them. Unfortunately there is no lack of incidents where innocents have suffered from the actions of ill directed leadership. We were castrating gipsies so they shouldn't breed up to the 1950s, lobotomy was still practiced until the 1980s, until last year people were registered locally as halfwits so the municipalities could cash in on state support for them while spending the money on other things, and on and on. We have the harshest child support services on the planet (according to a lot of other countries anyway). More relevant, new security additions to state systems revealed that 'celebrities' (anyone known from TV or the news) were checked out in the system by about a hundred times more police and hospital workers than actually worked on their law/health cases. To me, Smittestopp is yet another state system positively begging to provide entertainment to the people who are supposed to keep information private.

This is not a story isolated to the state. Incidentally we currently have a big national newsissue about how cell phone apps gather user data, which are then sold as 'statistics' on the open market. The trouble is, the data seem to always include such details as name, phone number, street address.... One of the main news channels here showed how they could buy a 'statistics' package for about 3000 dollars, then follow one randomly picked guy's every step outside his own home for eight entire months. Where he shopped, who he visited, what roads he preferred, it was all available. The app makers' big trick is to offer the app to people along with a bunch of guarantees and limitations and they promise to only sell data which are volume statistics. Except the base data aren't anonymous. That's what makes them so sellable.

I'm a cynical guy. Bordering on paranoid, perhaps. But I go by what they have done in the past. On the big clock of the universe it's just a minute since our leaders started rounding up jews, gipsies and other undesirables and putting them on a boat for holiday camps in Poland. That one will probably not happen again, because there weren't really any jews left afterwards. What else can happen? We might find out. For my part I like to keep the state out of my cell phone to what degree I can, before they start handing out gold stars again. It's 1984.

[Captain Maltese]

Four days later:
8257 infected, of which 50 are in hospital ( down 8)- 11 in ICU with respirator. 233 are dead (1 up). 219k+ tested.

A little while ago ago there was talk of gearing up the local authorities's test taking ability to 5% of the population per week, after testing gear became available for something like that volume. This goal has now been reduced to 1.5%, if even that happens. Partly this is because the apparent pandemic spreading in the general public is now so low that it makes little sense to put that sort of machinery into action. Partly because an increasing number of people doesn't want to get tested any more.

[Captain Maltese]

Eleven days later:
8435 infected, of which 27 are in hospital ( down 23)- 3 in ICU with respirator. 236 are dead (3 up). 245k+ tested.  Of the almost 6000 hospital staff that was at one point in quarantine, there's just 211 left. Right now the chances of dying in Norway of covid19 are absolutely minimal even if your health is critically bad for other reasons.

The opening of schools have not hurt the children. In fact the number of still infected children is now lower than before schools reopened. A few cases have shown up but each of those have had registered infected family members prior to starting at school. The kids don't infect each other and they don't infect adults.

The first international corridors are now opening. Denmark and Finland, maybe even Germany, will likely soon allow mutual traffic to and from Norway. Sweden, with a covid19 death rate 20(?) times of Norway, will not be allowed to join in at this time.

Everyday life has to some degree returned to normal. People shop, pupils and students go to school at least some weekdays and have online teaching the rest, workplaces are open again unless they depend on tourists. Most shops still have antibac bottles at the entry and most customers use them. Hospitals have started to grapple with the backload of cases. Unemployment figures that went through the roof when this started are going down. The social services were overwhelmed and payouts to the new cases are delayed, which is the most severe issue for the involved people right now. Hairdressers are back at work although extra cleanliness measures have been implemented. Gyms remain closed but a number of sport activities have been reinstated. Plane traffic has gotten weird; all passengers must wear a mask during the ride and the middle seats are empty. But at least they are flying again.

I can't even remember all the new stimulus packages we've had in the last two weeks, nor all the press conferences. But the meat is getting minced more and more fine. The one thing we haven't had is a personal extra payout like I understand US citizens have received. Then again we have a different government safety net. The closest we have gotten are reductions in the time needed before one can apply for unemployment after being permanently or temporarily laid off.

[Captain Maltese]

Ten days later:
8567 infected, of which 22 are in hospital - 2 in ICU with respirator. 239 are dead (3 up). 264k+ tested. 6000 hospital staff that was at one point in quarantine, there's just 94 left. The infected number is the total for the entire pandemic; 96% of those who tested positive at some point are no longer infected. The number of tested is standing almost still; while the testing capacity is greatly expanded, almost no one bothers to get tested any more. Emergency test facilities open to the public have so little traffic that medical staff assigned to them are trying to get back to their regular jobs.

Little has happened in these ten days outside the approval of new economic incentives for the industries. One incident worth mentioning was the George Floyd demonstration, which in Norway was a one day event in Oslo. It was utterly peaceful but gathered a couple of thousand people, which is completely against the allowed public gathering maximum of 200 people while the pandemic lasts. Two tiny organizations led it and they had no resources for maintaining that number nor minimum distance between people, who stood in big tight groups. Some had masks but most had not. If there were infected people there who spread it on, the new batch of infected won't be showing up in the hospitals for a a week yet. There has been political and medical criticism of this huge display of ignoring pandemic rules, because there certainly are other groups who want to gather with the same abandon of safety, but unless the demonstration do result in a new outbreak I guess it will mainly be an incentive for others to ignore the rules too.

[Captain Maltese]

Eleven days later:
8733 infected (up 166), of which 16 are in hospital - 4 in ICU with respirator. 244 are dead (8 up). 302k+ tested (up 57k).  This means that after 57 000 tests of what was deemed at-risk patients or people possibly infected with symptoms, only 166 were found to have, or to have had, the actual illness. Statistics updates on a number of areas are now so few and so infrequently reported from local authorities that my main summing-up source no longer offers number. One of these are hospital staff in quarantine.

I mentioned the BLM-supporting demonstration in Oslo in my previous post, where a couple of thousand people mingled close together for a number of hours. In spite of the risk of infection this posed, only a single case among those present has yet been reported as infected.

We are currently having a heat wave in Norway of epic proportions. School have just ended. Foreign travel to most locations remain curtailed. People are going to the beaches in record numbers and caution is pretty much thrown out. After a few weeks of this, there has been only the smallest of spikes in registered new infections.

Scandinavian restrictions have been much reduced and now it is possible to go vacationing from Norway to Denmark, Iceland and Finland and the other way around too. These four nations have all had small numbers of infections and death. The big exception is Sweden, whose death numbers are 20 times those of (half-the-population-size) Norway.

The Smittestopp application mentioned earlier has been kicked shut, big time. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority appealed to the courts that it was undermining personal privacy and won through. A couple of days ago it was disabled and all collected data deleted (or so they claim - who'd be able to check?). At this point about 1.6 million people had downloaded it, 1 million had deleted it and 600.000 of a 5 million population were still running it on their cell phones. While the authorities have said that they would like another version where you had to agree to be tracked separately from where you agree to have your data collected, the low current numbers of users and of current infected are strong incentives for dropping this system dead permanently.

In related news, the UK introduced a similar system of their own a couple of days ago too. It immediately crashed and as far as I know it still is crashed.

Norwegians have pretty much accepted that they will be doing this year's summer vacation in Norway. Sales of cabins are up, sales of boats are up 90% and it's expected that this summer's boat traffic will be crazy, sale of swimming pools are up high too.

[Captain Maltese]

Eighteen days later:
8733 infected (up 217), of which 8 are in hospital - 2 in ICU with respirator. 251 are dead (7 up; none in the last seven days). 363k+ tested, which is about 7% of the population. Of all those infected since day zero, 96% are now no longer tested positive.

In those 18 days there has been a couple of infection incidents. A Swedish doctor and a Swedish nurse who were working on both sides of the border, didn't get tested or quarantined when they came over here. Neither wore face masks and turned out to be infected, sending other medical staff and patients into quarantine. One school class was sent into quarantine when one pupil turned out to have been infected elsewhere. But largely things remain in check. Considering how bars and restaurants are now open and crowded and the guests are often breaking distance rules, causing shut downs to a lot of places for new periods, there would have been no surprise if new breakouts had happened, but as yet we have been strangely blessed.

International traffic in Europe including Norway have opened up somewhat for a number of countries for a few weeks now, apparently without serious resulting outbreaks. Contact with Sweden remains restricted and seeing how they have ten times our death numbers with no sign of the spreading receding, indications are the restriction won't be lifted any time seen. Sweden is one of Norwegians' most popular foreign holiday locations and many of us have cabins, houses and family there.

Speaking of cabins, it's now July and large numbers of Norwegians are now staying at or going to stay at their cabins. Apparently this is not a problem for neither central nor local authorities any more.

The Smittestopp app, the State's cell phone thingie that's suppose to warn people of infected people, remain out of the game after it was deemed unlawful. Unless there is a major new breakout wave I can't see it coming back, even with major redesigns.

Many imposed restrictions beside the travel ones are still in effect, but they are getting hard to notice as they involve narrow groups and settings. Adult soccer matches are still illegal, while kids' matches are legal. Face to face education is allowed again but online is more in use; since it's summer and holidays it matters little.

One curious after effect of this epidemic in Norway could be for the Russ, the traditional and much loved high school celebration for the final year which is unleashed every spring and lasts even through the spring exam period. We are talking drinking, sex and general debauchery with a vengeance and it's a happy memory of the rites of entry into adulthood for very many Norwegians including me. Every year there's teachers who want the whole party to start after the exams and not before, and this year that happened. A long time to wait for sure but there was a lot of making up for lost time too. Statistics are unfortunately worthless here since the online schooling was also happeing for the first time.

[Captain Maltese]

Twelve days later:
9034 infected (up 301), of which 10 are in hospital - 1 in ICU with respirator. 255 are dead (4 up). 404k+ tested (up 61k).

There's been no new developments worth mentioning.

[Skynet]

I don't know if this is an appropriate thread for someone else to post in (if it is I can delete this), but thank you Captain Maltese for providing regular coverage of the pandemic in your neck of the woods. It's not often that topics on this site regularly cover news beyond the English-speaking world, and in regards to an international pandemic we all must realize how interconnected our global community really is.

[Captain Maltese]

I don't know if this is an appropriate thread for someone else to post in (if it is I can delete this), but thank you Captain Maltese for providing regular coverage of the pandemic in your neck of the woods. It's not often that topics on this site regularly cover news beyond the English-speaking world, and in regards to an international pandemic we all must realize how interconnected our global community really is.

Comments are highly appreciated.Thank you. I have been, and am, reading the related news from the rest of the world with horror. I am hoping this little column can show that even a disease like this can be beaten down with appropriate measures. Norway is a microcosm and some patterns can perhaps be easier to see in an environment with fewer other influencing factors.

[Captain Maltese]

Eighteen days later:
9503 infected (up 469), of which 15 are in hospital - 2 in ICU with respirator. 256 are dead (1 up). 479k+ tested (up 75k).

Things looked rosy red for Norway for weeks and compared to most other countries, they still do. At one point we were down to 4 in hospital and none on respirator. But we are still part of Europe, the borders have allowed tourists and others to come and go, and some social activites have resumed. Now a lot of European countries are seeing new surges of the virus, although the pattern have changed somewhat.

Here in Norway we have had a number of outbreaks, who fortunately have been contained by sending people into quarantine instead of into hospital. The hospitals and nursing homes, the places with the most vulnerable and the oldest, have largely managed to stay clear by not reducing their emergency routines. As in the first wave, the virus bringers are healthy and fairly young social people who can afford to travel and go to parties. They get infected but don't get particularly ill, and bring the virus on to others of their age group that they socialize with. So far I am aware of four big weddings and at least four big parties that ended up with mass quarantine. More serious, there has been several outbreaks on cruise ships this week. This is serious because the average passenger age is much higher than other mass transport, and because they live close together for weeks at a time. The cruise companies have been very eager with political lobbying to resume their activities and we are somewhat aghast at learning how they have abused that privilege. The crews, which typically are Filippinos or from other Asian countries, have been expected to get themselves tested at home before going to Norway, and those are not countries that have resources for good testing. Those who have been found to be infected, have been 'quarantined on board' which means doing their normal jobs with much contact with the passengers. Even worse, the ship doctors have hushed down known infection cases 'in order to not upset the passengers' and have done this on company orders. As of now, a number of those doctors have been placed in house arrest and port medical crews have replaced them. By Norwegian standards this is incredible; right now cruise ship company credibility is on par with Weyland Yutani. And all cruises in Norwegian waters except ferries have been forbidden to sail until further notice.

There was a government press conference today, incurring a number of new initiatives to clamp down again. The limits on social groups like parties are not opened up but stick to max 20 people for informal groups and max 200 for formal groups with administration etc. All sale of alcohol, that timeless aid to better social skills, is now illegal in bars and clubs and restaurants after midnight. (Until midnight each evening is still fine. But anyone partying in Norway know the party har barely started by 11. There's going to be a LOT of nachspiels. Also all international travel is strongly discouraged, no matter what foreign country is the target and regardless of local infection rate. Not banned though. Not yet. However all traveling from outside EU is completely banned. Anyone arriving from a foreign country are to don face masks at the airport/border and go straight into quarantine. Face masks were the one thing many thought would become obligatory today and there has been a brisk sale, but the health minister said they'd hold off right now because a lot of institutions don't have the gear and routines in place. However the way the topic of face masks were covered there'll be little surprise if they become obligatory as early as next week, at least for mass transport and a few other places with lots of people. I have some masks already but will be buying a dozen or two more tomorrow.

I'll count our blessings though. We are so lucky to get away with masks and restrictions at a time when so many are seeing people close to them get sick or even die.

[Captain Maltese]

Seven days later:
9503 infected (up 384), of which 8 are in hospital (7 down) - 1 in ICU with respirator (1 down). 261 are dead (5 up; four of these are corrections from earlier reports). 530k+ tested (up 51k).

About ten percent of the entire population have now been tested; some have been tested more than once. 99% of the tests were negative. 95% of those who tested positive at some point have been tested negative later.

There has been several press conferences this week. A number of the countries declared safe are now considered unsafe as fresh outbreaks show up, but this has not been the main focus. Reopening colleges and universities is where the action is, literally. First week is tradionally the week where new students are welcomed into the student societies, meaning there are a LOT of parties. This has not combined well with the current ban on more than 20 people in one group, and since Norwegian students drink alcohol like fish drinks water the 1 meter distance rule has been thoroughly ignored. This is now resulting in a flurry of infection tracking operations because one infected student can have partied with hundreds of people in one week. And there is more than one. As the results on the top line indicate this isn't resulting in hospital stays and death, students are generally a young and healthy bunch, but they have families.

So now there are new things happening. New as in not having happened in Norway during this epidemic before. For the first time, the government recommends (but does not makes obligatory) the use of face masks for commuter traffic, but only in the capital Oslo and nearby suburb area. If that happens it will be the first time we see masks used in scale here since the epidemic started. The authorities are announcing this all over the place, showing how to use the masks, and are mainly suggesting surgical masks and fabric masks; the latter can be home made and is considered the more ecological alternatives as they can be washed and reused. Shops claim to be well supplied although there's a wave of buying these right now. We'll soon see how well supplies hold up. Omitted from this mask recommendations are school kids, plus kids up to the age of 2 are banned from using masks due to obvious suffocation risks.

Also there is a welcome upgrade from 26 to 52 weeks of temporarily unemployed people, so companies can retain their staff even if this epidemic keep on rolling for longer than most expected.

Border controls are upping the checkpoints from next week, to reduce the traffic mainly with Sweden. This has led to a fresh surge of shoppers passing the border this week, which isn't exactly an encouraging sight. How many cents saved per pound of low quality bacon is it worth to go to a full mall in a country that doesn't believe in infection control? I just don't get it. For those who aren't aware of it, there's a row of malls along the Swedish border on their side which Norwegians go to shop. Norway's outrageous alcohol and sugar taxes makes it very easy to earn in the costs of the border crossing trip even if the food isn't actually that much cheaper. The Swedes refer to these malls as the 'trash bins' as they sell only the cheapest junk food to keep the prices interesting to Norwegians who are incapable of using a calculator.

In my own tiny town the infection numbers have gone up from 14 to 16 in total during the last two weeks.

[Captain Maltese]

22 days later:
11254 infected (up 1751), of which 16 are in hospital - none in ICU with or without respirator. 264 are dead (3 up). 777k+ tested (up 247k).

There are plenty of new local outbursts. Almost invariably this happens when youth parties, or when religious groups disregard the rules for how to conduct social activities. But about half the infection cases are still coming from people who have traveled out of the country. The good part is that practically noone have to go to hospital since they are otherwise fairly young and healthy. 90% of those who have been infected are by now no longer infected. Hospitals and nursing homes appear to still be tight as clams. Routine WORKS.

Travel abroad is a risk sport now. Countries marked 'yellow' are considered safe, while those with too high infection rate per capita are marked 'red' and all visitors requires a ten day automatic quarantine after returning home to Norway. The trouble is, with the situation we have now these colors change like traffic lights at rush hour.

The last little related 'scandal' was that a company that imports and sells face masks was caught buying 'civilian use' masks and repackaging and selling them as 'medical' masks. The latter is a fair bit more expensive, so this is treated like a major fraud case.

The introduction of face masks in mass transportation in Oslo the capital has been less than enthusiastically embraced by the public. Some use them, most don't.

There is a rising number of protests across Europe, particularly in the younger people groups. They have lost a lot of party time by now. In Norway there's not much of that as yet. There are a lot of 'unofficial' parties and partying, but there isn't anything new about that in Norway. As long as very few of them get seriously sick - from covid19 - it is going to be very difficult for the authorities to put a serious spoke in those works. 

[Deamonbane]

Might be time to update this. Sorry if that's not allowed, and I can delete the post if Capt. Maltese prefers.

28,241 confirmed cases in Norway, of which 106 are currently hospitalized. 294 are dead, 9 of which died in the past 48 hours.

Oslo has seen new measures started on November 10th.

All social gatherings outside private homes are prohibited (these gatherings are also restricted to 10 people or fewer). The only exceptions are for funerals and burials. All leisure activities for adults are to close.

Businesses that run cultural and leisure activities are to close, with the exception of libraries. All businesses serving alcohol are closed. Restaurants can stay open without serving alcohol.

Stronger infection control measures and smaller groups in high schools. Students in all fields of study must be prepared for a proportion of remote education. Children's and youth sports can continue to arrange training sessions, but there should be no participation in tournaments. Face masks are required in taxis in addition to public transport.

Shopping centers and individual stores can stay open, but must ensure that customers can remain two metres away from each another. The necessary security staff must be provided.

The health minister Bent Høie says that these measures are necessary and correct, adding that he expects other municipalities located close to the city to introduce similar measures.

Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg announced a further nationwide clampdown in a bid to halt the spread of the virus.

The rules include lower limits on the number of people allowed to gather at private and public events. Alcohol cannot be sold after midnight. Non-residents arriving in Norway from a country given “red” status by FHI must present a negative Covid-19 test taken within the last 72 hours. Note that this doesn't mean anyone presenting a negative test can enter Norway. Previous restrictions still apply, so tourism from most countries essentially remains not possible.

Aside from Oslo, the city of Bergen has also introduced stronger measures.

[Captain Maltese]

Much appreciated post, Deamonbane. I'm like a badly leaking steam engine this season and have serious trouble keeping up with stuff.

29 days after Deamonbane's post:
40927 infected total (up 12686), of which 121 (up 15) are in hospital - 33 in ICU with or without respirator. 383 are dead (93 up). I'm not sure at present how many have been tested in total by now.

I struggle to remember how many things have changed lately. The one starting today (tomorrow?) is that people coming from other countries can now avoid the obligatory quarantine hotel stay if they have a place to go that's suitably isolated, like if they are going to stay with a relative.

I still seem to be the only face mask user whenever I am out shopping in this or the two neighbor towns. I grant you the local infection rate is very low, but there's 60.000 people here. And I can't even bump into ONE other guy with a mask?

The other day I did have to push my chances. A close relative living nearby was feeling pretty bad and wanted to take a test. There wasn't any other transport avaiable but me and my car. So he wore a face mask. I wore a hood, goggles, face mask, gloves. The test itself was quick; we waited in a queue of cars and drove into the testing hall one car at a time. The testers wore a hat thing, full plastic body cover, face mask, goggles and gloves too. Then we got a medical appointment half an hour later and did pretty much the same. It eventually turned out to be just a throat infection, and a negative test.

[Captain Maltese]

Closest ring of the bell yet. My little town has a high school. Today, following the positive covid test of one pupil, they are sending more than 80 pupils home on quarantine. So far we have only had 28 infected here. But nobody wants to get tested. I wonder how many they'll find if they decide to test the whole school.

[Captain Maltese]

56927 infected total, of which 156 are in hospital - 36 in ICU with or without respirator. 509 are dead. 300 000+ have been tested in total.

By comparison, Sweden with their roughly 10 million population which is the double of Norway, has 507k infected - and 10.000 dead. That's a frightening number.

It's been four weeks. Much has happened in that time. We are still spared the deaths rates some countries have, and the number of people in hospital is very low. The first vaccines have arrived, in Norway as in many other places. That's the good news. The not so good news is that the infection rate exploded during and after the holidays; parties are blamed, but also foreign workers coming here without getting tested or self quarantine have contributed much in a bad way. We have also had the first cases of the 'supervirus' variations from UK and South America.

All schools above high school are on level red. People are advised to work from home if the job allows for it. Arriving vaccines are distributed to the whole country but there is some absurdity in how small municipalities, of which Norway has very many, get as little five dosages at a time. With the government adopting both saving the secondary dosage AND building up an emergency bank (how much more of an emergency can this GET?) a very low number of dosages has actually yet been administered over the last three weeks - we now have the smallest distribution percentage in the entire Europa.

Again the government have taken drastic measures and more are on the way. All foreigner coming to Norway are now obligated to take the test and enter quarantine, whereas until now this has been 'advised' but not enforced. But even stronger tools are considered, of which the most spectacular is curfew. Such a thing has never been heard of here; not since the occupation years anyway. Some politicians have been talking about halting all border traffic completely, which wasn't taken seriously this morning. But tonight I've heard of the MIS-C syndrom flaring up in Sweden and all bets are off.

My little town had 26 infected from March to December. Seeing someone in the stores wearing a face mask was a bit of a novelty. Now, three weeks after the holidays, we are at 99 and another 5-10 is added every day. When I did my shopping this Monday the change is dramatic - most people are wearing face masks. I have never seen that sight before.

On an unusual note, the health department says that the yearly winter flu is completely absent. The many measures taken against the covid are assumed to be the reason.

Another unusual note. A NATO exercise in progress in Norway and foreign units have arrived and are getting ready. But a staggering 4% of these American and British soldiers have tested postive upon arrival. They are in quarantine but it means all the soldiers they came here together with should be in quarantine as well, pretty much totaling the entire exercise. As it is the contact with anyone else is likely to be curtailed as much as possible. I have trouble understanding why the exercise wasn't cancelled a long time ago.

[Captain Maltese]

63 430 infected total, of which 94 are in hospital - 22 in ICU with or without respirator. 568 are dead. 300 000+ have been tested in total. Vaccinated: 126 000, or about 2.5% of the population.

Vaccination has started, but progress is very slow. Norway is definitely feeling the delay that Big Pharma manufacture problems and politics have caused, but it's not the whole story. Internal distribution has had problems caused by authorities not reading the user instructions - it is hard to believe - leading to erronous use of needles and cooling procedures etc.

The mutated virus versions are showing up in Norway, like random dots, some times being a single case and some times becoming a local outbreak. The biggest worry have been a considerable number of outbreaks in the suburbs around the capital Oslo, where a fourth of the Norwegian population lives. To combat this, there has been some very strict local measures, closing down everything but food stores and apothecaries. It seems to be working.

The border is closed. Military personnel is now stationed at every border road, halting all cars. They better. On the Swedish side of the border it is now illegal to enter Norway, or to come from there. Plane traffic is now limited to only essential personnel.

The discussion about introducing national curfew is meeting considerable resistance. Polls says it would be very unpopular, police says it will be very hard to enforce and they don't want to do that sort of thing, and political support is weak. At this point I think there would have to be a major incident for this measure to be put into effect.

[Captain Maltese]

Eight days later:
65 429 (up 1999) infected total, of which 94 (unchanged) are in hospital - 22 (2 down) in ICU with or without respirator. 592 (up 24) are dead. 300 000+ have been tested in total. Vaccinated: 218k dosages have been administered; one in four were the patient's seconde dosage.

Another two hour long press conference today. Basically there's local outbreaks here and there, and an increasing percentage of them are the mutant versions of covid. Vaccination continues, although all manufacturers are dealing with delays now. The good bit is that practically everyone in a nursing home or other elderly/medical care has been vaccinated at least once by now; this is the group where the majority of deaths have occurred. The border remains closed to all but the most vital foreign workers, and even with them the control is now being tightened up as unfortunately some such foreign workers chose to leave the quarantine areas for various reasons. This is now increased in security and anyone breaking that law will be facing prison and/or fines, plus deportation afterwards.

One new step: Norway like any other country has a number of heavy drug abusers. Hardly the people who willingly takes tests or follow any other rules. In one of our towns, a small number of these are now forcibly detained after (somehow) being tested posivite to covid. Another similar case happened recently when a small number of foreign sex workers were deported for complete lack of protection. (Selling sex is legal in Norway, but buying isn't, which means sex trade happens behind public view. This is pretty harsh by Norwegian standards but there is no doubt that a lot of soft gloves have been taken off the last year revealing iron fists. And for the most part, Norwegians largely accept it. We have been numbed.

Everyone is so tired of the virus now. We may pretty much have avoided the death rates we feared, but ordinary life is so constrained. All social activities gone, in some towns you can't even buy alcohol in bottles, work life is unrecognizable, schools are all partly digital and in some areas all digital, holidays are shot to shit - and Norwegians love love love going to the Mediterranean for their holidays to get some actual sun, especially in the cold half of the year. 2020 was a total loss. Now everyone expects 2021 to be a loss too because that's how long the vaccination program is expected to last before everyone has had their shots.  On the other hand... the post-vaccination parties are going to be something special. There's a lot of pent up wild emotions waiting for an outlet. Last I checked, Norway was still the global leader in one night stands.

[Captain Maltese]

About one month later:
78 041 (up 12 612) infected total, of which 159 are in hospital - 21 with respirator. 639 (up 47) are dead. Vaccinated: 690k dosages have been administered; one in three were the patient's second dosage.

4 million tests have been done in total; this is ten times the number I previously reported and I am not sure what accounts for this change. With a population of five million I am fairly certain some people like medical staff have been tested many, many times and the total of people tested must be far lower. None the less it is a fact that testing capacity has been a high priority and after we developed our own test the distribution of testing is definitely nation wide.

Another day, another press conference on covid. Today's theme was the upcoming Easter holiday. A lot of people won't be having one, judging by the severity of the newest traveling restrictions. There is strong advice to remain in-country. Everyone returning or coming to Norway are demanded to stay in quarantine hotels where they can be under observation. Home quarantine is no longer enough. The quarantine starts with a test on arrival, then a secondary test three days later. If either test is positive it means another two weeks in quarantine. The travelers will pay for the quarantine hotel, and the fines for breaking quarantine are promised to be astronomical. No numbers have been mentioned yet but 2-5000 USD per fine is realistic. Norway now has the strictest border passing rules in Europe.

Astra-Zenica is once more under question as a viable vaccine. In addition to new delays there's enough serious side effect cases to halt the entire further distribuation until further studies have been done. This halt started yesterday. Vaccines are supposedly coming in from multiple other sources, including the new vaccine from Johnson&Johnson. There's even supposedly a new Norwegian vaccine under testing. The latest estimate for full vaccination is now 'some time this summer'. I think it is optimistic.

Last Easter was much ado about going to cabins. One year later, cabin trips are now fine - hotels and skiing resorts are not. Which is a disaster for the national tourism industry, of course. And everyone who doesn't have a cabin will have to stay home and go for day walks.

The 'Smittestop' app in its completely redesigned version is still alive. So far it has been downloaded about 900.000 times. We have a 5 million population and practically everyone has a cell phone these days. What the authorities have not reported on, is how many of those installations are still active and how many were immediately deleted after installation. Funny that.

Oslo the capital is on red alert; while this is nothing new there's little to indicate that it will end. After quite a bit of discussion some vaccines are now being taken away from the little municipalities with few infections, to speed up the vaccination process in Oslo. Especially the eastern part of the city has had a lot of and most of the recent infections, and exactly why is debated with some anger as this group and that refuse to take blame for irresponsible social behavior. Of the various mutations, the English one is the main virus found in Oslo.

Locally, there's not much to see of the infection. Between my municipality and the two other municipalities we border to, there's a population of about 60.000. In the last three weeks there has not been even one reported new infection. However the latest advice is that people from high infection areas should limit travel to low infection areas, which means that I might not get any relatives visiting at all this Easter. I might not know for a couple of weeks yet.

[Captain Maltese]

Eleven days later:
88 531 (up to a near exponential 10 490) infected total, of which 267 (up 108!) are in hospital - 46 with respirator. 649 (up 10) are dead. Vaccinated: 770k dosages have been administered. More than 4.4 million tests have been done.

Fuck, here we go again with the draconic measures. Easter is looming and already we've had sharply rising infection numbers beyond what was expected after the previous holiday. Some of our major hospitals are cancelling surgery appointments and moving some of their workload to nearby less burdened hospitals. Today's government press conference, the umpteenth, slams hopes into the garbage can and puts on the lid. From Thursday this week the following new nationwide rules for the next three weeks are go:
- all serving of alcohol is curtailed. Doesn't matter if you live in the tiniest godsforsaken hamlet a hundred miles from the next population and there hasn't been one infected there since the start. Right now you can probably start a fight just by SAYING 'cheers'. But at least we are still allowed to buy bottled stuff and drink it at home. Alone. Because....
- having more than two guests is strongly discouraged.
- having visitors over night is strongly discouraged.
- people are discouraged to visit, or leave, markedly infected areas.
- anyone traveling abroad who aren't on strictly necessary travel are to go straight to the quarantine hotels when they return and stay there the entire 10 day curfew without leaving the hotel.
- the advice that people should try to keep three feet distance, is now increased to six feet.
- all indoor sports for adults are curtailed, including training.
- all entertainment venues are closed.
- ALL PLANNED EVENTS are to be canceled, with some very strict exceptions like funerals.

Oh, and the Norwegian police is in no way capable of enforcing all this. They are not bad people but they have no manpower resources to divert into this in addition to their other duties. I expect spectacular breaches of these rules, especially during Easter.

On a hilarious note though, our leading politicians seem to have forgotten the rules also apply to them. Right now our prime minister is under police investigation for having had guests at her 60th birthday last week.

AstraZenica is now a major issue here. We've had six deaths, most of them health workers so fairly young and active, whose death cause blood clot is suspected to be a result of them being vaccinated. The public confidence in the AZ is dropping sharply and some are now refusing to get vaccinated even when it means they won't get a shot any time soon at all. That's a kind of public disobeyance you don't often see in Norway. We've even had a couple of actual anti-vaccination demonstrations, but as yet the number of participants have been negligible.

My local area of 60.000 people have not had a new infection case in a month. We've hardly seen a single dosage of vaccine yet either.

[Norwegian One]

As a teacher, I can definitely say that the last year has been rough. We're just going back and forth all the time, with periods of Yellow level replaced by a week or two of Red level, and then back again. A lot of my colleagues are exhausted, students are sick and tired, and morale and drive to study is at the lowest I've seen in all my years as a teacher. I am honestly concerned that we will have a generation of students who will suffer with less than average grades and skills.

And now we are going to back to school after Easter, with smaller cohorts. That basically means splitting classes in two, giving us another level of organisation and measures that we need to deal with. I am so ready for the summer break :(

EDIT: This is not intended to hijack the thread, just wanted to share my two cents as a fellow Norwegian :)

[Captain Maltese]

Yay for your post The (other) Norwegian one :) Schools have been hit so hard and it is great to get some inside data. The more Norwegians contributing to this thread, the better. If anything my perspective stand to be challenged as I am not exactly neutral on this stuff, or in touch with any social activities these days.

Today's press conference was all about plans for how to reopen the country when things get better. I'm not bothering to report details on that because every time things seem to get better, they immediately get worse again. I'll probably get back to it when, or if, any of it actually gets implemented.

[Captain Maltese]

Five weeks later:
11 686 (up a whopping 20k) infected total, of which 206 (down 68) are in hospital - 40 with respirator. 736 (up 87) are dead. Vaccinated:  1miilion 400k dosages have been administered;22% of the adult population have had one shot but just 5.7% have had two. More than 5 million tests have been done.

Today, the newest government press conference. It follows the one from the Oslo area yesterday.

New today, stricter quarantine rules for all necessary travelers from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Iraq. This is of course coming now because of the rampant outbreak in the area and the new Indian C36 virus version. Mandatory testing on arrival and 7 days later, and mandatory hotel quarantine for the full period of ten days. The Indian version is a serious threat to Norway as a significant percentage of our immigrant population came as asylum seekers from Pakistan since the 1960s and there is much traffic now between our countries. Our middle eastern immigrant population is largely living in Oslo and nearby areas, is already way overrepresented among the infected, and is the most resistant group when it comes to listening to government rules and advice or willingness to take the vaccine. As yet we don't know much about the C36 but it's pretty obvious where it will spread if it gets here.

The border is now closed to all foreigners who do not have necessary reasons for coming here, regardless of country.

Those fully vaccinated (received 1st and 2nd dosage) can now be with other fully vaccinated people without adheringing to the 3 foot distance rule - at home.

Having more than five visitors is discouraged and more than ten is illegal and can be punished by law.

And oh yeah, the wonderful Smittestopp application. One million or 20% of the population have downloaded it. Number of actual users are unknown but it is estimated that about 3000 of the 110 000+ known infected have registered themselves in it. That's the good news. The bad news are that a security flaw has been discovered, making it possible for others to get data from the cell phones where it is installed on an android platform. Gee wiz, say it aint so. Google, whose baseline software it is running on, are working to close the flaw. Nothing was said on how long it has been there or when it can be fixed, but sensitive data has been lying wide open for harvesting. They have no way of telling if anyone have been harvesting it either. Amazingly, this particular bit of information is not available on the downloading page for it. But a fine study of the download statistics do reveal almost noone has been downloading it for the last two months, so there is that.

My dad is now fully vaccinated, which is a great thing. Hopefully my mom will get her shots soon too. I expect some months to pass before I get the shot. Maybe in August or September? I look forward to it but in the meanwhile I can go wherever I need to go as long as I wash my hands and wear my mask and keep my distance. And I watch the newscasts from India and know I am damn lucky.

[Deamonbane]

Both my parents got offered the vaccine since they are both working and both old enough to be at risk. But they are both anti-vaxxers and refuse to take it.

[Shores]

Sorry to hear about so many who have passed on in Norway. Beautiful country, would love to visit one day.

[Norwegian One]

Happy (and hopefully Covid-free) 17th of May! ;D

[Captain Maltese]

Two months later:
131 037 (up another 19k) infected total, of which 24 are in hospital - 6 with respirator. I want to say that again. There are 24 people in hospital with covid and six of them get breathing help. This means that 99.9% are either no longer sick or not sick enough to qualify for care. 794 are dead in total; 60 of them over the last two months. Only 17 in total were aged 49 or younger and almost everyone who died were already seriously ill or very old. We are a 5 million population. More than 6 million tests have been done. ABout 4 million vaccines have been administered. 47% of the adult population have had one shot while 27 have had two. In some places you can call the local clinic and ask for a vaccine shot and simply be allotted a time to show up. The R-factor is currently somewhere around 0.7.

As numbers indicate, the pandemic is still present but its teeth has been drawn. We still get localized outbreaks, usually centered on what media calls 'religious communities'. The wave of youth partying in May and Juny due to finals and unusually great weather was feared and some were indeed infected, but the cases were contained and didn't spread to the older generations which was the main fear. We've gone through every new infection in turn, the Chinese and British and South African and now the Indian (which we have to call Delta because India complained) is showing up. But we seem to have weathered it. The combination of hard core border control not seen here since WW2, a good progress on vaccination and a more than decent virus tracking and containment is showing solid results now.

As a result of good progress, the various draconian measures are being rolled back gradually. You can go out and have a drink again although dance floors are still cordoned off and you have to drink at your table. As of today, you are not required to be in quarantine even if you live with someone who are. Outdoor activites are still restricted but they are allowed again. There's more but I can't remember. Some rules are still in effect but clearly they'll be lifted soon. Most of them are only local, to combat outbreaks. In Oslo you are supposed to wear a mask on public transportation (I doubt more than 10% actually do) but not elsewhere.

People had to change behavior during the pandemic. There's not much left of that. Few people wear masks now. There are still hand antibac stations in the stores but I don't see them being used. I can't see anyone intentionally keeping their distance either. One local store, the equivalent of a dollar store, was selling off their desinfectants at a fragment of normal price because, and I asked, there isn't much customer interest in them any more.

My parents are fully vaccinated now. I got my first shot on the first of June and have an appointment for the second in a couple of weeks. I kept on wearing my mask because I didn't want to demotivate people who should still wear it. Last week I officially took it off though, as I realized I was once again almost the only one in the stores still wearing one. What would be the point? It's good to breathe again and actually be able to smile. Or scowl. Either is good.

It's not over until it is over. After four covid waves there could still be a fifth, sixth and seventh. But I don't really think so. Practically everyone who could get seriously ill have been vaccinated by now and the program will run until everyone over 18 is covered. Those under 18 might get shots next because the Norwegian state is thorough once it has set its bull mind on something, and that IS how we got rid of meningitis and tuberculosis.

This isn't the last post in this thread. But it would be nice to wrap it up soon. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[Norwegian One]

Excellent summary. I, too, am also very happy that we are hopefully seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. It would be great to start teaching again at a green level come autumn :)

[Captain Maltese]

Twentysix more days have passed.

I'm not doing the numbers this time. All the bad number updates (deaths, infections, hospital cases) are so low they have hardly changed since the last time and the vaccination programs continue mostly on schedule.

It's mid summer but most municipalities and cities keep calling people in for their shots; somewhat more people ask for a postponing than previously but as far as I can see there's no vaccines having to be thrown away. Some places have however given some vaccines to neighboring municipalities to make sure nothing is wasted. I don't think we'll see a lot of waste for the reminder of the epidemic either; the authorities has this program going on rails now. The discussion now is whether those under 18 should get shots as well. The argument against is mostly that so much of the world population is still yet unvaccinated that it makes a bit of an egoistic example. I don't buy that one though. I would say the public support for getting vaccinated is massive now, especially since we dropped the AstraZenica antivirus which got bad press back then, and we'll probably see 85-90% of the adult population get two shots eventually.

The predominant virus is now the delta one; the virus previously known as the Indian strain. Most of the fresh outbreaks are of this type. Most of the infections are with young adults in the 18-24 range, the last group on the priority list because they rarely get ill enough from the infection to warrant hospital care. They are also the hardest to keep from socializing and make respecting quarantines. Media is however getting very careful about describing exactly which groups and places are the biggest spreaders, which I suspect is due to politically correctness - a permanent ailment of Norwegian media. Maybe we'll get the story many years from now or at least after the next election. Maybe we won't. Facts can be so inconvenient.

There has been no changes in the authorities' anti-covid measures since the previous post that I can remember. The biggie isn't up to us; some European countries go on and off alert so some Norwegian tourists go to a 'green' country and then it becomes 'red', so when they return home they have to enter quarantines they didn't expect or plan for. It makes a lot of people pretty exasperated but the risk was known when they left on holiday.

All my local relatives have gotten two or at least one shot now, including myself.

[Norwegian One]

Again, a very good summary, Maltese :)

My fiancee, being a health care worker, has gotten both her shots (Pfizer) and I have gotten my first shot of Moderna. Will get my second in October.

[Captain Maltese]

It's been exactly three months since the last time I did the numbers so here we go again. 90 days is a long time in a pandemic already over a year and a half long so some of the totals are getting pretty big.

189 142 (up another 58k) infected total, of which 93 are in hospital - 22 with respirator. 861 are dead in total; 67 up, compared to the 60 that died in the two previous months before that. We are a 5 million population. Almost 8 million tests have been done. About 8 million vaccines have been administered.

Vaccination numbers now describe the entire population rather than everyone above 18 so don't compare well to the previous posts. Vaccination is now given to the 12-17 age segment as well and I suspect the below 12 segment will get vaccinated as well once Big Pharma is done with the testing. Under the new numbers, 77% of the population above 12 have now had their first shot and 67% have had their second.

As the numbers indicate the vaccination program is a great success. The point where most people questioned the wisdom of it is long passed, except in one narrow category: immigrants from a couple of countries where trust in government is quite low. These don't show up to their vaccination appointments in as much as 50% of their group. As a result they show up in much larger numbers in hospitals with Covid infection than their population numbers would indicate.

Last weekend was a watershed officially as the government declared the end of almost all the Covid special laws and recommendations. Masks, the hand cleaning, the three feet distance, public transportation measures, quarantines, public venues like bars and clubs and concerts, it's all back to where we were before. Last weekend saw a lot of hard partying and people went to town in record numbers. The sole remaining rule is that people who get infected should self quarantine, but without anyone policing this it's more like wishful government thinking.

The pandemic isn't over and we still get outbreaks. Mainly in the 18-29 segment with all the social people, school people and partygoers. But most people don't get ill enough to go to a doctor and those who do don't die - excepting those who are already so ill and/or so old that their remaining days are already few indeed. Most of the people who did die with covid, didn't die from it by itself. Everyone who are in a risk group now are already fully vaccinated. The common cold will likely kill more people this winter even if the last remains of the pandemic will stay with us for another year.

I'm not sure what else to add at this point. The entire covid thing is leaving the front pages of the news outlets and numbers are no longer update by the hour or day. Soon I might only find weekly numbers. Unless something spectacular happen we have more or less beaten it. Which is a dangerous thought, but even if new variants of covid show up it will have a very small and spread population segment to move through. To my fellow Norwegians I suggest you don't throw away the spare hand desinfections and face masks. Keep them in storage for the next pandemic. It will most likely have nothing to do with covid at all and the only thing stopping the entire crapshow from going back to the start block is the experience we have all gained through this one.

[Captain Maltese]

It's been six weeks without any restrictions and things are not all well in the state of Norway. Also we have had an election and a new government is in place, and they have not been keen to start their new period with the persistent anti-viral message that likely brought the end to the previous government. Ideal environment for a new covid wave. Now they have no choice and the first new measures were announced today.

224 302 (up another 35k including 2k yesterday along) infected total, of which 184 are in hospital - 28 with respirator. 861 are dead in total; 87 up. These are the changes over 45 days. We are a 5 million population. About 8.1 million tests have been done. About 8 million vaccines have been administered. The last two numbers have hardly moved in these six weeks; generally everyone who have been willing to take their dosages have received them and when the restrictions ended there wasn't much incentive for pressuring the remaining group to take theirs.

The new wave started in a couple of towns with a vibrant social life, the same pattern as before. Young people got it, then the students, then school kids. About half the infected had already gotten their vaccinations. With the restrictions gone the pressure to go to school or work even if you are 'a little sick' is as strong as before the epidemic. Now the big cities are getting it. Fortunately the numbers show the good part; most people still don't get sick enough to fill up the hospitals. Considering how small our intensive care resources are, we are a small country after all, we won't need a lot of new severe cases to get us into trouble again.

And that is why our new government, with teeth gritting, today brings on the unhappiness again.
- everyone over the age of 65 gets offered a third dosage. Unfortunately the guys who refused the first two will probably not take this offer either.
- plans will be made to offer everyone over 18 a third dosage. From next year. Could happen? Could not.
- municipalities, meaning the big cities, will be allowed to introduce a covid passport. This will probably not happen anywhere as it will kill shopping and partying. Again.
- some more people will have to test themselves than before.
- new rules for unvaccinated health personnel.
I'm kinda underwhelmed, to be honest. There's nothing in this that will stop the entire covid thing to grow back to full force.

On the local level I am using a face mask again when I go into crowded stores. I'm definitely not in the majority but I am not alone. And all plans to go to the nearest big city are shelved for the time being.

I don't know what else to add. We are about to enter the greatest shopping and social season of the year. I predict exponential infection rates into January. But I am more worried now, because I am seeing a new government leadership with less will to fight than the predecessors.

[Captain Maltese]

The news are all bad. It's almost exactly one month since the previous post. A couple of days ago new strict measures came into place but it gave the new omikron version of the covid virus an entire month to roll in unchecked. All numbers are up and still climbing.

330 856 (up another 106k, meaning the total climbed with about 50% over FOUR WEEKS) infected total, of which 375  are in hospital - 122 in intensive care, of which an unknown number with respirator. 1202 are dead in total; 341 up - almost a 50% increase in just four weeks! 79% of the population above the age of 12 have had at least one shot, and 72% have had two or more.

From what I've heard the hospitals report the new infections are evenly spread between vaccinated and unvaccinated, but almost all the severe cases are people who have chosen not to get their vaccinations. There is not one legal adult citizen in this country that hasn't been offered vaccinations, and those who haven't said yes have been offered them multiple times.

The newest govt measurements are as follow, for the next four weeks:
- from today, serving of alcohol in public is not legal. As a result, every bar and pub and party place in the country has closed their doors for the time being. This is certain death for many places whose profits during this season was carrying them through for much of the rest of the year. The govt will help some, but some are likely to give up now. They have had a hard time for a long time already. Cafes and restaurants are also limited in how many guests they can have. Oh, and all dancing is out of the question - not that there'd be much of that without alcohol.
- various maximum attendant limitations for all and any kind of indoor and outdoor public events, and face masks are now obligatory also indoors.
- schools, university and daycares are to up their safety procedures, and switch to digital teaching where possible. All youth activities connected with the schools are to be curtailed or reduced.
- stricter quarantine rules.
- also a numbers of suggestion for what we should do, which means the most likely carriers won't abide with them anyway.

I now have and have had several relatives infected or still in quarantine. My little municipality is now one of ones with the fastest rising infection percentages. I think I have a cold but I am no longer certain it isn't the virus. Hopefully I'll have shaken it off by tomorrow or it could be my turn to take a test.

[Captain Maltese]

I give up on most of the totals numbers. About 300 are now in hospital for covid, about 30 in intensive care in respirator. The overwhelming majority of infections are related to the relatively weaker omicron variety.

It is almost exactly two months since the last post. However today is a special one. Today the Norwegian government announced, with effect immediately, that almost all covid measures are ended. No more social distancing, no further requests for wearing masks, no more bans on public alcohol sale, no more bans on public dancing. As I write this the partying and clubbing in the cities tonight are probably about to become an epic night; I live too far away from the city to be part of it. About the only remaining measure is that adults who get infected are supposed to stay home for four days. There will however be no enforcement of this.

The government expect that as much as 80% of the population will get infected during what remains of the winter, but with such a tiny percentage getting actually seriously sick from it, the nationwide antiviral measures no longer make any sense.

I got my third shot just a couple of weeks ago. On Monday for the first time in something like two years, I will go my shopping round without a mask. It will be weird.

[Captain Maltese]

Another month gone by. This time however with the war dominating all news outlets I had to dig just to find the basic numbers. But covid might not have been a main news subject either way. 5000+ still get infected every day but most people don't bother with testing any more unless they feel really crap. About 500 in hospital have the infection, 47 are in intensive car with or without breathing help, but how many of these are actually in hospital because of covid and not other illnesses is not reported.

A month ago I, and most of the rest of the Norwegian population, pocketed our masks on the same day and now I rarely see one when I go shopping. The hand washing machines and bottles are still everywhere though and it looks to me like most still use them. Considering how helpful and hygienic it makes the stores look, I suspect they could become a permanent fixture. I would like that. Especially in the stores selling fresh food like vegs and bread, because there's always people sneezing and coughing their ways through the stores and none of them ever wore a mask for anyone elses protection before. Imagine how clean their hands are.

[Captain Maltese]

The new socialist government certainly laid the covid epidemic to rest. Or rather, they laid any attempt of treatment and information flow to rest. The fourth shot never materialized, there are new and still worse variants spreading now, and still... nothing. Granted they have other things to deal with as well, but the difference between the socialist government and the old non-socialist one is staggering. It's as if they just decided to look another way. Oh well, according to the poll numbers they will reap the rewards of apathy soon enough. It's not as if they have any efficient tool to use at this point, but it would have be nice to see that they actually cared.

My mom was the first to get it, on Friday nine days ago. She is 75. This was about three days after my brother and his family had visited my parents for a week. On Monday, my brother also got it. Poor guy, this has to be the fourth time for him. Treating patients have become a risk sport. Late that day my dad who is 80 went to the cabin to do some work; when I showed up there next morning he was completely shot. I had to drive him home in my own car. Friday, three days later, it was my turn - the test I took Saturday morning confirmed it, and the three family members visiting me had to be emergency moved to another family member's apartment nearby. We can only hope it was in time. I guess by Tuesday we'll know if the big event trip next weekend we were planning to go to will have to be canceled on account of them getting sick too.

My symptoms have been annoying but not dramatic. At first I thought it might be the flu or a heavy cold; feeling woozy, some fever, tiredness, coughing, lack of taste, sense of temperature swinging like a pendulum, and the worst of it being a constantly runny nose - I'm building a haystack of used tissue paper.

It is lucky that we, and in particular my aging parents, don't have any respiratory illnesses. We seem to get better within a relatively short number of days.

Now that I think of the shots we were given, the masks we used, the hands we have washed in shops a thousand times, the social distances we have kept... it does seem a little pointless. The way it is spreading now, the entire population will have had it several times over before christmas.

[Captain Maltese]

I posted positive yesterday and negative today. Still a little bit coughing and temp's still going up and down a bit, but who cares? This makes for the following cycle:
Day 0:    have to share car for one hour with covid-sick family member who is in full outbreak
Day 1-2: feel fine
Day 3:    wake up with all of the symptoms
Day 4:    all of the symptoms, but less strong. Take test which is positive
Day 5:    primary remaining symptom, very runny nose
Day 6:    few symptoms. Take test which is positive
Day 7:    take test which is negative