Høringssvar fra Person som ikke har oppgitt navn

To whom it may concern,

First, apologies for submitting the question/comment in English - I am intensively working on my Norwegian since the moment I started planning my move to Norway, to start a home and life with my Norwegian partner. This plan was interrupted by COVID-19, which is something that affects us all.

I have been a rigorous follower of all the measures, and simply applying common sense when it comes to the pandemic. I have no issues with wearing the mask, keeping distance, following laws and avoiding social contact (though it hurts not seeing my family, but I want to protect them).

I am moving to Norway in one month, managing to find a job in Norway that allows me to both start a home with my partner, and become a valid part of the society by being a taxpayer. The last months were incredibly stressful with the mental pressure of constantly not having the chance to see my partner, following all the lockdown measures, and yet planning life and finding a job in Norway.

I understand it is hard to make measures that makes everyone happy. However, these measures, besides completely complicating a lot of people's lives, are firstly completely ruining people's trust into the government and secondly, not targeted to the right audience.

People who have a proper place to stay (in my case my partner's house where we are easily and happily in complete isolation), and a proper reason to come to Norway are not the group that will spread COVID-19. We are people who rigorously follow rules, and come because it is our basic life need - yes, love and family are basic life needs! It's not for fun, it's not for tourism, and these measures have a direct impact on people's lives, mental and physical health!

It's not "wait a bit longer", it should be "let's put rules in place that allow basic needs of life, but prevent the COVID-19 spread". I am a part of a large community with same issues - and it hurts seeing everyone's stories every day. These are not just stories... they are people's lives, and it is the saddest fact that even some young lives were lost to the rules in place in last months! Some loves also stopped, some families were broken.

What hurts the most is that we all see that the right target group is simply not prevented from breaking rules. When I would see my partner in Norway, we would follow the rules to extreme - though his friends would call us and say "no, no, you can still meet us, c'mmon". We never did. My partner avoided social contact for a few days after I would leave, just in case. And yet, when we'd drive to/from the airport, we see groups of people everywhere and no presence of police! It's enough if police would just drive by... It's not about not having ways to make sure people follow the rules - it's the fact that nothing is done! People lost the trust in the government, and they will continue losing it, if these kind of rash, unexplainable rules are imposed.

From the experience of where I live - everyone who needs to quarantine, needs to have a suitable place of quarantine. Myself and numerous people I know had to quarantine at some point of time in last months, and it did not even come to anyone's mind to break the quarantine! The police is entitled to check if you are home - and that is enough for everyone to follow. It's not scary - it's just the way it is, and people don't complain about it, as it is done in the right way.

Please bring back this trust of the nation with not putting people in detention centres for the fact that they have basic life needs connected to abroad. For us, those detention centres are SCARY - I don't feel they are safe, and it hurta knowing you have a perfectly safe quarantine place at home. I don't want to be in the same building as other people, and exposed to 1000x more risk than at home. I don't want to be detained - because I did nothing wrong!

Please put the focus also on the administration that has such a backlog, that it will lead to me and many others not being able to fully register in Norway for months once I move! Which again means that if my basic life needs (such as going back to my home country if my parents fall ill!) require that I fly abroad - I need to go to the dentention centre again instead a house where I am happy to quarantine and do my job remotely.

Please hear us and allow us to co-operate with you, instead of making us turn our back to the government.