Ski Federation sends letter to health authorities, demands unrestricted skiing from Thursday

Erik RøstePhoto: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB

In an open letter, the Norwegian Ski Federation has asked the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) to recommend lifting corona restrictions on skiing both locally and regionally this week.

News bureau NTB has gained access to the letter that was sent to Health Directorate chief Bjørn Guldvog and the FHI’s director Director Camilla Stoltenberg on Monday. 

Entitled “When the snow melts, it is too late,” the Ski Federation letter warns that the infection control restrictions currently applied to Norwegian skiing are perceived as illogical and disproportionate.

The Federation’s President Erik Røste and General Secretary Ingvild Bretten Berg also claim that it will soon be too late “to reverse a flawed logic that our 1150 ski clubs have experienced since January 20.”

Compelling arguments

The ski leadership referred to the fact that the ski season is fast approaching the end and that the opportunity to compete is thus limited to the next month and a half.

“Skiing involves activities that by their nature involve distance, are outdoors, and without contact. This applies to all ski disciplines and for all age groups “, Røste and Bretten Berg wrote. 

Furthermore, they pointed out that the ski industry has complied with measures and restrictions during the entire pandemic. A number of events have been held within various branches.

The Norwegian Ski Federation believes that in light of this, there are compelling arguments for resuming competitive (skiing) activity without a high risk of infection.

Letter from the sports association

On Tuesday, the Norwegian Sports Confederation’s top officials sent a letter to the government and Norwegian health leadership demanding that the infection control measures introduced for grassroots and top sports be greatly eased.

It was also pointed out that the sport has loyally followed all recommendations and orders from the authorities during the corona pandemic.

“We are now experiencing increasing unrest and concern related to the infection control measures and the consequences this has for our members… Approx. 2,100,000 members spread across 11,000 teams in all the country’s municipalities,” President Berit Kjøll and General Secretary Karen Kvalevåg wrote.

New assessment on Thursday

In an email to NTB on Monday, Minister of Culture and Equality Abid Raja (V) wrote that he is sorry for the consequences that the measures had for sports.

“I hope that we can ease some of the measures and recommendations as soon as possible and that we can get started again with normal competitive activity,” Raja said.

He added that the Norwegian Directorate of Health and Norwegian Institute of Public Health will make a comprehensive assessment and advise the government on the situation, and that a new decision will be made on Thursday.

Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

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