"Finland and Norway boast the West’s lowest rates of mortality,..now stand out as the closest Western equivalents to Asian nations that have managed to avoid the worst of the pandemic."

Their recipe:

@bopanc @eppe

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/finland-and-norway-avoid-covid-19-lockdowns-but-keep-the-virus-at-bay-11605704407

"Their recipe: a brief, targeted lockdown in March, followed by tight border controls with mandatory testing and quarantine for all travelers.

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"Finland and Norway follow a similar playbook of strict border controls, mandatory quarantines and detailed contact-tracing focused on preventing superspreading events when infections do occur.

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"Elsewhere in Europe, strict lockdowns in the spring helped bring infections down, but as most of the continent reopened borders, summer travelers turned into incubators for a new and bigger wave of infections.

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"Stopping inbound international travel early and urging Finns not to travel abroad was the foundation of Finland’s success, said Mika Salminen, director of the Department of Health Security and one of the architects of the pandemic strategy.

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"As a consequence, air travel dropped by 95%, and over 94% of Finns vacationed within their country from May to August—with the rest traveling mainly to Norway.

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“That meant we didn’t import infections like most of Europe did,” Mr. Salminen said.

In Norway, government and opposition parties held a joint news conference in March to support the nation’s pandemic policy.

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"The government has published every piece of expert advice underpinning the measures, and Prime Minister Erna Solberg holds televised news conferences for children, where she and her ministers field questions about the pandemic. Similar events took place in Finland in April.

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"On the health front, authorities in Norway and Finland are able to trace the origin of most new coronavirus cases whereas in Germany, which has fared better in the pandemic than most large European nations, the origin can’t be determined in 75% of cases.

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"When Norwegian authorities noticed that the incidence of Covid-19 was higher among some minorities, they organized meetings with community and religious leaders to devise a common information strategy.

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"Nearly half of Finland’s 5.5 million inhabitants use the government’s coronavirus contact-tracing app—among the highest rates in Europe—and compliance with the rules exceeds 80%, said Vivikka Richt, spokeswoman for the health care ministry.

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"“When the government makes rules to protect us from a pandemic, we don’t go out to streets to protest against them like [people did in] other countries,” Ms. Richt said in reference to protests across the U.S. and Europe.

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"Norway, like Finland, has a decentralized system where municipalities enjoy some latitude. Oslo, the capital, banned all bars and restaurants from serving alcohol this week after data showed the virus was spreading faster among young adults when they consumed alcohol.

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"Companies adapted too. At Helsinki-based OP Financial Group, around 9,000 of the more than 12,000 employees worked from home in the spring. Now that figure dropped to 7,000, but only 30% of the staff can be present at the office simultaneously, said Hannakaisa Länsisalmi

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"The approach has brought economic dividends. Gross domestic product in Norway and Finland is set to drop by 2.8% and 4%, respectively, in 2020 compared with falls of 12.8% in Spain and 9.8% in France and Britain,

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Now why not take the next step and get to zero?

Voluntarily reducing non-essential inter-community travel wil establish green zones. Focusing efforts on red zones will get the whole country to zero community transmission.

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With international travel restrictions already in place, restoring normal social and economic life will benefit everyone in Finland and Norway.

Open travel to other green zone countries, and be an example for the world.

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