When Bent Høie participates in Monday's Aktuellt, he is careful to draw some conclusions about why Norway has done better than Sweden in the fight against the coronavirus - in terms of the number of deaths.
He even believes that the countries' strategies are actually quite similar, but believes that one difference may be that Norway acted faster.
- I have not perceived it as if Sweden and Norway have had such different strategies.
There has been a difference in the times for when different rules have been introduced.
The results regarding the deaths are different and it will be interesting to see if it is possible to find a good explanation for that difference, says Høie and continues:
- Norway was early in introducing a restraining order on nursing homes and I think that has been of great importance.
But no one really has an answer to this yet.
Corona falls have recently increased in the Oslo area, which has led to several restrictions being reintroduced.
At the same time, certain restrictions are eased - for example, the limit on the number of people allowed to participate in crowds has been raised to 600 people and restaurants may be open after midnight.
Accused of messy rules
The many different rules have been criticized for being messy, including by Sweden's Interior Minister Mikael Damberg, who last week said that it is "starting to get difficult to keep up" in all tours.
Something Bent Høie understands.
At the same time, Høie explains, they want restrictions that people can live with.
Therefore, they are investing in stricter rules in extra-affected areas, while other regions can adhere to "lighter" guidelines.
- The alternative of having very strict rules in areas where there has been no infection for a long time seems to us bad.
Then you are afraid that people will get tired and not have the strength to follow the guidelines.
The rules for how Swedes are allowed to travel within Norway are also fluid, as people from certain regions need to be quarantined after entry and others are not.
- From Norway's side, we chose to say that we want to work at the regional level in the Nordic region because we want the Nordic region to be as open as possible.
You can have a region in Sweden or Denmark without being quarantined along the entire border.
Then you can have as much openness as possible in the Nordic region.