Prime Minister defends decision to ease lockdown

Prime Minister Bárður á Steig is sticking to his guns regarding a partial reopening of schools and daycare centres, despite a leading doctor’s advice to the contrary.

The country’s foremost infectious disease specialist, Shahin Gaïni, recently accused the government of acting rashly with its plan to partially reopen schools and daycare centres on Monday, arguing that we ought to wait and look at what Europe’s big countries do about the situation rather than focusing solely on what’s being done in Denmark and Norway.

This statement caused some stir among the general public, including children who, according to a childcare representative, were left feeling bewildered and anxious by the mixed signals.

Responding to this, the Prime Minister said on Tuesday that while he is aware that there are some health risks, now is the right time to do this.

“These concerns are perfectly understandable,” he said. “This virus could easily be eliminated by extending the lockdown forever. But as politicians we need to take many factors into account. This has certainly not been an easy decision, but it’s a decision which had to be made to prevent our society from collapsing.”

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He added that the authorities deliberately decided not to open things up straight after Easter and decided instead to spend this week carefully planning a gradual reopening of society starting on Monday 20 April.

He said he has spoken with many of the leaders at the various schools and daycare institutions, who say they are seeing more solutions than problems with regards to reopening their activities.

“We are treading with extreme care, and it is this caution and the gradual nature of our reopening measures which in my view justifies our decision to lift some of these restrictions now rather than continuing to wait – not least considering that we have not had a single positive corona test for more than a week now.”

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The Faroes are exercising even more caution than their Nordic neighbours, who are also preparing to lift some of their restrictions, he said.

Faroese schools, for example, will open their doors for 1st to 3rd graders, whereas in other Nordic countries they open up for 1st to 5th graders.

And while some Nordic countries are withdrawing their recommendations to close down professions with close physical contact such as hairdressers and physiotherapists, Faroese authorities are still asking people in these professions to refrain from working.

“We believe that our opening measures are so careful and gradual that there is a very low risk of everything going wrong,” he said. “And in case we see new waves of the virus, we always have the option of introducing new restrictions, although I really hope it doesn’t come to that. The only way to avoid such a scenario is that each and every citizen shows responsibility and continues to respect the guidelines set out by our health authorities.”

Another crucial element in the success of lifting the lockdown, he added, is that all incoming travellers go into self quarantine for 14 days.

Translated by prosa.fo