Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s visit to the nightclub tells of the government’s conflicting messages in the midst of a worsening corona situation, writes Jussi Pillinen, the forerunner of the HS’s Economic and Political Department.
With the government there have been great difficulties in communicating to citizens in recent weeks how to act in the midst of a worsening coronary situation.
The core issue is simple. Should the precautionary principle be followed and contacts avoided? Or should we rely on vaccinations and live a life as strong as a coronary passport allows?
There have been enough confusing signals around these.
In autumn the pandemic was already being declared over.
“Society is opening up. I hope that all Finns now feel that they are allowed to go, do, experience and spend time with friends and relatives ”, Prime Minister Sanna Marin (sd) said Ilta-Sanomat in an interview in early September.
In these moods, the Ministry of Transport and Communications began to show in early November Here we go again campaign to encourage people to use public transport and, for example, for gigs.
Then everything changed and the disease situation got worse. The Let’s Go Again campaign was only a week away, when it was already put on the shelf – the message was no longer appropriate for the deteriorating coronary situation.
At the end of November, the disease situation was already so bad that the Minister of Family and Basic Services Krista Kiuru (sd) when informing the Board of Directors of the negotiations just a few weeks time for the government to use the “emergency brake” of corona measures and to start closing Finland more and more strictly. In the background, a new self-variant is lurking, the dangers of which are still obscured.
The message of going began to change into a message of the precautionary principle.
That’s exactly it a snapshot of Prime Minister Marin blew open on his nightclub visit on Saturday. There is nothing wrong with running in itself. In the time of the Koronapass, the prime minister also spends his free time however he wants, even then on the verge of restrictions.
Read more: Prime Minister Marin told HS about his nightclub exposure to the coronavirus: “I myself should have used it better”
The news visit was because Marin went all the way to the gray area of the pandemic: he continued to celebrate in the midst of the crowd, even though he was informed in the middle of the evening that he had been exposed to the coronavirus the day before. Pekka Haaviston (green) company.
Marin himself explained his decision on Sunday night by saying Secretary of State Henrik Haapajärvi told him on the phone that the exposure required no action.
A situation has arisen that many have experienced in a pandemic: they have to use their own judgment. The Prime Minister decided to continue the evening.
Administratively what makes the pattern unfortunate is that the internal flow of information within the government seems strange in the case.
Protecting the state leadership and the unhindered flow of information are essential functions for crisis management in society. Even during the corona, the state leadership is more closely protected than others.
Now, after calling Haapajärvi, Marin did not receive an official instruction sent by text message. Unlike Haapajärvi’s call, it contained a call to avoid contact. Marin said the message went unnoticed because he had the wrong phone with him at the nightclub. The government sent its message to government numbers, but the prime minister had a parliamentary phone.
Should someone – Haapajärvi, for example – have ensured that the Prime Minister receives the security messages intended for him? Or can the Prime Minister be expected to always read such?
The Prime Minister also deserves and needs his free time, but the episode does not give a particularly organized picture of the arrangements for communication between the state leadership.
The key is that the government, and especially the prime minister, communicates not only with their political choices but also by example.
When the epidemic began, Prime Minister Marin appeared to be the highlighted serious crisis leader. Saturday’s episode forces us to ask how seriously the government actually takes the current disease situation.
The case does not send a very special message of caution.
.
#Comment #Sanna #Marinis #evening #reveals #confusion #governments #corona #messages
