The cumulative number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population over 14 days in Finland was 54.2.
Helsinki:
As many countries grapple with a second wave of coronavirus, Finland has halted an increase in new infections to the lowest level in Europe, aided by the fact that for Finns, social distancing comes naturally.
While a remote northern location and one of the lowest population densities in Europe work in its favor in the fight against COVID-19, it helps many Finns enjoy personal space and solitude.
“Maybe the Finnish personal comfort zone is a bit wider than in some other European countries. We would like to keep people a meter or more away or we start to feel uncomfortable,” said Mika Salminen , director of the Finnish public health authority THL.
As of Sunday, the 14-day cumulative number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in Finland stood at 54.2. The European average is around 576 and Luxembourg the most affected 1,302.8 cases, according to data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
In a Eurobarometer poll, 73% of Finns polled said the first wave containment measures had been very or fairly easy to manage, with 23% seeing them as “even an improvement” in their daily lives.
Many Finns liked spending more time in nature or having saunas in their summer lakeside cabins.
“We love being in solitude, wandering in forests and swimming in lakes, so many Finns really appreciated that they were able to get away from the cities”, Kristian Wahlbeck, director of the Finnish Association for Mental Health ( MIELI), told me.
In April, the Finnish government’s first efforts to contain the virus were supported by the highest rate of remote working in Europe, with almost 60% of Finnish employees teleworking, according to a Eurofound study.
About 2.5 million out of 5.5 million Finns have voluntarily downloaded the government’s contact tracing app, a rate that Salminen’s colleagues in public health authorities in other European countries can only dream of.
“It’s actually a key factor in our strategy which is based on a very low threshold for testing, contact tracing … and quarantine,” said Salminen.
After the first wave, daily COVID-19 cases fell close to zero in July, but the government has maintained some of Europe’s toughest travel restrictions, allowing Finland to enter wave two from a very low baseline level of infections.
“On a bus we sit in a free double seat and it’s like natural social distancing for us and that’s, I think, how we got up,” said Juha, a teacher in the capital region. .
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