What are the Finns doing right? Well, one thing was the country wide lock down occurred before there were 10 deaths. [I suppose we can thank Italy and France for showing what the effect of the virus could be.] When cases started rising fast in the capital region there was a total lock down of that region with no traffic in or out. This internal lock down / isolation lasted about two weeks, with a large police force manning the roads at the boundry of the region. Another thing is that the government has followed the advise of the chief medical officers, who were given prime TV time to explain things. Then there is geography, being reasonably far from the first European cases (this is an "accident of history" rather than any action). Also in a country that is sparsely populated the spread would be slower than in the cramped quarters of major cities. There has been clear communications. The prime minister has done very well at this (and it is showing in the polls). At the same time the other leaders have not tried to turn it into a political issue even if they are loosing voters to the prime minister's party. The prime minister took over just before the corvid19 crisis when the previous party leader was very unpopular (and the party doing badly). I was worried that she might have been too inexperienced to handle this but she has surprised me [some times it is good to be proved wrong]. Lock down here was easier to do than in some other countries as only a minority of people come by land routes (in the north from Sweden, and a few crossings from Russia which are mostly in the south east near St Petersburg). On the political front, Finland has a "Constitutional Committee" made up of members of all parties whose job is to see if any proposed law actually contravenes the constitution. People pay attention to this committee and its approval of the lock-downs helped the population to accept it. Similarly the extra isolation of the capital region was lifted earlier than the Prime Minister had earlier announced because the situation improved so fast that the conditions allowing extra-ordinary actions were no longer valid, and to prolong the isolation would therefore be "unconstitutional."
[ps. As I have kept my UK citizenship, I am not able to vote for any of the five lovely ladies heading up the government parties - I am, however, allowed a vote in local elections]
|