COVID-19 brings Finns closer than usual

On 20 March Finland retained its title of the world’s happiest country. Its neighbours Sweden, Denmark and Norway also found places in the top ten of the 153 countries ranked on the happiness table. That day, the first Finnish victim of COVID-19 succumbed to the pandemic. The Finnish coalition government, led by the world’s youngest female prime minister, 34-year-old Sanna Marin, had already designed a series of measures to limit the spread of the disease in her country of 5.5 million people.

The first confirmed Finnish case was a Chinese visitor from Wuhan in January. The number of confirmed cases grew slowly and on 16 March, with confirmed cases approaching 300, the government declared a state of emergency. Education moved to virtual learning, bars, restaurants and non-essential shops were closed. Parliament closed the borders of Uusimaa to all non-essential travel. Initially, the shutdown was planned to last until mid-April and has now been extended by one month.

Of the four Nordic countries, Finland’s model for coronavirus containment is almost identical to that of Denmark and Norway, although Sweden has pursued a different path. Swedish leaders followed their own expert scientific advice to avoid lockdowns and essentially let the virus spread naturally, appealing to citizens’ sense of social responsibility to build ‘herd immunity’ over the long term. The argument is that harsh measures could not be sustained over a long period. In terms of mortality, Sweden has so far fared worse than its neighbours. With a population roughly double that of Finland, namely 10 million, there have been approximately ten times more recorded deaths and in terms of cases it figures in the top 20 in the world though testing is only limited to severe symptoms. Time will tell whether the Swedish model has been successful, not only in terms of fatalities but in economic recovery.

In a country straddling the Arctic Circle, Finns look forward to summer months after long, cold and dark winters. The summer festivals enjoyed by so many are now cancelled. Nevertheless, the Finns count themselves lucky; the number of fatalities is below 200 and the stress on the health service is manageable. During a meeting with children Sanna Marin was asked whether the situation in Finland was good. She replied; “If we compare our situation to other countries, it’s good.” Yet unemployment continue to rise and economists predict that half the firms in the hospitality industry will be in serious financial trouble. As is common with other countries, panic buying resulted in empty supermarket shelves. Many urban dwellers took the opportunity to move to rural cottages despite official pleas to stay home. And a lack of personal protective equipment resulted in health workers having to improvise.

Generally speaking, the mood and habits of Nordic people remain stoically upbeat: distance working and flexibility in home child-minding have been the norm for a long time. Finns respectfully afford one another ample personal space even without mandated social distancing. A popular meme shows two Finns standing at a bus stop: one wonders about the necessity that they should be two metres apart. The other agrees that it’s crazy, that’s closer than they would normally be! Faith in government action remains high, as does trust in mainstream media. According to one report, only six percent view social media as a reliable source of information.

There is no sense of complacency. “I would not recommend thinking we have seen the worst yet,” stated Finnish Institute of Health researcher Jouni Tuomisto, “the situation could be two times worse than it is in Italy now. There is good reason to assume that such a situation can occur in Finland if the disease is allowed to spread freely.” Whether the mortality count stays at the low end of the projections or not, the impact of the pandemic will be felt in many other areas. The Helsinki mayor has expressed concerns about the possible social crisis: ‘“We have understood that this is a major health and economic risk, but I fear that the social aspect could be the most difficult. Isolation, alcohol and the national Finnish character are a problematic equation.” So it would be in other Nordic countries as well.

(The writer is a lecturer in Media Theory, Tampere, Finland)