PMs statement at press conference for children

Hello everyone, 

Welcome to this press conference for children, after a rather different Easter break.

I hope you’ve enjoyed yourselves, even though you haven’t been able to do everything you usually do at Easter, like going to your cabins or visiting your friends.

I have also been at home this Easter, with my husband and children, eating lamb, enjoying Easter eggs and playing games. These are things we often do at Easter, but it wasn’t quite the same this year.

It will still be a while before things get completely back to normal. We don’t know how long it will take. But we are working all the time to learn more about the coronavirus, so that we can make sure that we have the right rules in place in Norway – rules that work as well as possible and that interfere as little as possible with what we want to do.  

One of the things I miss most is being able to give my friends a big hug. At the moment, the rules tell us to keep our distance from each other, and make hugs impossible. But there are other things we may soon be able to do again.

Next week, preschool children will be able to go back to their day care centres, and the week after that, schools will reopen for children in years 1 to 4. But you will find that things are slightly different, and there will be some new rules you have to follow. This is because we want to make sure it is completely safe for you.

We are going to ask as many of your parents as possible to continue working from home. So that they don’t meet lots of colleagues or need to take buses and trams.

Before Easter, we got some good news about the virus in Norway. Not as many people are becoming infected as they were earlier. This is because we have all been good at following the rules, but we cannot relax completely yet.

That is why I used the words ‘gradually’ and ‘cautiously’ when I talked about starting to reopen Norwegian society at the press conference just before Easter. We must do this little by little, and we must be very cautious.

Before we start answering your questions, I would also like to thank all of you who have worked hard on your schoolwork at home, who have looked out more for your younger or older brothers and sisters, and who have helped your mum and dad to make the days go well, even with all the special rules we’ve had to follow recently.

Nobody, not even the Prime Minister or the King, can look after everyone in the country at the same time. That is why we need everyone, including you, to help out. By washing your hands, sneezing into your elbow and keeping your distance from other people.  

And not least, and equally importantly, by taking care of each other at this very strange time.

We will also do what we can to help you. For example, by answering the good questions you have sent in to the children’s news programme Supernytt.

Like last time, I have with me the Minister of Education and Integration, Guri Melby, and the Minister of Children and Families, Kjell Ingolf Ropstad, who are going help me answer your questions.