What is happening?
Although I am a permanent resident, I am still a beginner, so I turned half Finnish friends to obtain an explanation. They tell me that confusion is the probable cause. Shades of anthropologists ’respectful distinction between shame, do, and don’t cultures in Northern Europe and Mediterranean guilt cultures.
If you buy this reasoning, Finns of shameful culture want to emulate what other people do. They don’t want to look ridiculous – if most people don’t have a mask, the logic follows, I don’t want to look different.
But masks are not followers of a leader. They are a lifesaver.
Passengers can now pick up free masks from several metro stations. While it’s a positive step, the side message is below it – whatever you do, don’t embarrass passengers with no masks. Why not? Is avoiding confrontation more important than improving public health?
When I ask these friends if Finns should wear masks if the government makes the practice mandatory and does not “recommend” it, everyone says yes. The evidence supports them – almost everyone here trusts the government to do the right thing. Therefore, the COVID tracking application was downloaded more than a million times in one day. Citizenship believes it matters, because that’s why health officials say.
Finland is a civic nation. People here cannot understand why the use of the mask in the United States has become a political statement, and millions of Americans reject public health evidence-based advice against the plot. Donald Trump.
This civic-mindedness is one of the reasons why I am so Finnish enhancer. If the government reports that you have to wear a mask in congested spaces and on public transportation where the threat of COVID exposure is real, the situation will change overnight.
Memorandum Prime Minister Marin—See this step for the sake of the nation.
According to the news reports, the government intends to require that passengers going to Finland have a negative COVID test result before boarding the plane. This is a smart move because many of the recent cases have come from abroad. But it’s not enough.
THL assures us that the situation is in good hands that “nationally, the number of new infections is still relatively small”. While it’s true, it’s just part of the story. As reported by the European Center for Disease Control, the situation has worsened considerably since mid-July, when people began to return from their holidays.
You don’t need a fortune teller to predict that with the coldness in the air and the gathering of people indoors, these numbers are constantly rising.
Take a look at the picture of “confirmed cases” that is the leading article in this newspaper on a daily basis, and you will find that the number of cases is growing in European countries that mistakenly believed the threat was behind and stopped being vigilant. Let’s make sure the same thing doesn’t happen here.
*
David Kirp, a regular writer for the Helsinki Times, is a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley.
Source: The Nordic Page