COVID-19 Public Response and Rapid-Cycle Re-Implementation of Activities

The project is still ongoing and we expect to end the project in June 2022. -Hospital admissions We have studied acute admissions and death in Helse Sør-Öst during the first lock-down (weeks 12-22). We compared admissions in these weeks with the previous 3 years. We found that acute admissions decreased, mostly for infections (reduced by 49%), acute injuries (reduced by 19%), acute heart attacks (reduced by 18%), cerebrovascular disease (reduced by 10%). There was no reduction in acute stomach disorders. Hospital death after myocardial infarction also decreased (by 34%), and after infections decreased by 19%. This suggests that, although the number of admissions was lower, patients who needed urgent help received it during the lock-down. - Threat, trust and daily life in Norway and Sweden March-April 2020 A questionnaire was answered by 3,500 people. We found that Swedes (37%) had greater trust in the authorities than Norwegians (17%). More Norwegians (66%) than Swedes (18%) think school closures were a good infection prevention measure and that countries that had open schools were irresponsible (Norway 65%, Sweden 23%). More people in Norway believed that the infection prevention measures were a big threat (71% in Norway and 56% in Sweden). In both countries, over 98% followed the infection prevention measures. Many were more relaxed and ate more during the pandemic (69% and 44% in Norway, 50% and 33% in Sweden). People in Sweden trusted their authorities more than in Norway. Trust in the healthcare system and self-reported adherence to infection control advice were high in both countries, despite different handling of the pandemic. - Total mortality We have compared death from Covid-19 and total death in Norway and Sweden in 2020 and compared this with the four previous years. In Norway, we found that the mortality rate was stable from 2015 to 2019 (average 14.9 per 100,000 person-weeks), and was 3% lower in 2020 (average 14.4 per 100,000 person-weeks). In Sweden, the mortality rate was stable from 2015 to 2018 (17.1 per 100,000 person-weeks), lower in 2019 (16.2) and in 2020 the same as 2015-2018 (17.6). Mortality was 3% higher in 2020 than the previous four years, but this is due to lower mortality in 2019. Mortality was only higher for people older than 69 years. The Covid-19 mortality rate was 0.3 per 100,000 person-weeks in Norway and 2.9 in Sweden. Mortality decreased in Norway and increased in Sweden during 2020. The increase in Sweden can partly be explained by the fact that mortality in 2019 was low. - Reopening of gyms: We have completed a study of the reopening of gyms which shows that it is safe to exercise at gyms in Oslo in June 2020. We surprisingly found that more of those in the control group had antibodies against SARS-CoV 2 than in the training group. This indicates that several in the control group have undergone Covid 19. We do not know for sure why, but we observed that there were a number of unorganized groups that trained during the period. This may have led to more infection. It may be that organized training where cleanliness is set in the system and distance rules are observed is a safer form of training than unorganized training. In addition to the aforementioned projects, we conducted semi-structured interviews with various groups in the population, people living in the countryside, people older than 65, people around 50, health personnel, people with chronic diseases, parents of young children and young people in the first round of lock down (16-22 March 2020). We re-interviewed the same people 3-4 weeks later. Data from these interviews has been collected and the analysis work has partially begun. We expect to have completed two scientific publications during 2023 which deal with the fact that there was "no time for criticism" and "fear and uncertainty".