“Common sense says you should start with things that affect a very large amount of risky behavior,” he said, stressing that people spend a lot of time in restaurants. “Uusimaa has about 685,000 alcohol licensing places. There are 3.2 million restaurant chairs in Finland – and they are used quite a lot every weekend. Hundreds of thousands of people come together. “
Petäjä told the broadcaster that he is confused by statements that question the effects of restaurant restrictions, especially as identifying the source of each infection is becoming increasingly difficult due to the downsizing of tests.
“You have to think that the restrictions should start [activities] which occur much, often, everywhere and which are apparently detrimental to the spread of the coronavirus. “
He also expressed support for extending the scope of the coronavirus card beyond restaurants, predicting that the passport could be in use for a long time.
“Only about 150,000 Finns have been diagnosed with the coronavirus in laboratory tests. There are still 1.2 million unvaccinated people. We have not yet seen most of the infections leading to hospitalization. This effort will continue for a long time to come, ”Petäjä said.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT