An article in Turku's Turun Sanomat by Lännen Media political reporter Anita Simola examines the possibility of schools in Finland reopening in the weeks ahead.
Under the present measures in place educational facilities are closed until 13 May.
However, Prime Minister Sanna Marin has said that the cabinet is reevaluating its package of restrictions this week, and some kind of announcement is expected on Wednesday.
According to Simola, the talks may be looking at either easing restrictions or imposing new ones. What many families are most hoping for, she writes, is that schools will be reopened.
Quoting government sources, the paper says that the Centre Party is now more willing to accept a plan that would see schools gradually reopening a week or two before the start of summer holidays. Up until now, the Centre Party has pushed for continuing restrictions because of concerns that lifting them too quickly would lead to an explosion in the number of new coronavirus infections.
A longing for familiar routines
There is, though, growing social pressure to reopen schools. So far it is been seen that some pupils are doing well with remote online learning, but not all are. There are fears that more children may be falling behind in their studies.
A week or two back in a familiar classroom could be a sort of checkpoint, an opportunity for teachers to evaluate how well pupils have done. This would be good, especially for the youngest elementary schoolchildren, writes Simola.
Another argument in favour of reopening schools is that it would help families to get back to a more normal routine.
The tabloid Iltalehti also looks at the issue of easing restrictions, noting that the fall in coronavirus hospital cases is being interpreted by many members of the public as meaning that the worst is over.
Jarmo Oksi, who is the chief of infectious diseases for the Hospital District of Southwest Finland told the paper that once current restrictions are eased, the number of coronavirus patients in hospital, and the number of infections in general will rise.
"The virus has gained such a firm foothold in different parts of the country that new cases will gradually appear. The more freely we interact, the faster they will come," Oksi said.
A vaccine against the novel coronavirus will right the situation, but that is not an option for months to come. However, Oksi told Iltalehti that keeping tight restrictions in place until a vaccine is available is just not realistic.
Impact of travel
Movement in and out of the province of Uusimaa, which includes the Helsinki region, was shut down to all but essential travel in late March as part of the effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The regional border was reopened last Wednesday because the government said it no longer had a legal justification to restrict movement.
Oulu's Kaleva writes that the effects of lifting the cordon and increased travel are not likely to be seen for another two to three weeks.
However, Kaleva reports that Helsinki's HUS hospital district infectious diseases chief Asko Järvinen does not believe that reopening Uusimaa will have a significant effect on the spread of the virus.
The delay in any effects that may be seen is due to the fact that most people who catch the virus are not tested until they develop symptoms. This doesn't usually occur until about a week after being infected, but it can take up to two weeks.
According to Järvinen, it will be difficult to determine if an upswing in the number of infections is the result of lifting the travel restrictions imposed on Uusimaa residents, or caused by expanding local chains of infection.
New Helsinki immigrant service
The daily Helsingin Uutiset reports that the City of Helsinki is opening a new service aimed at helping local unemployed immigrants and immigrants who are under threat of becoming unemployed.
According to the paper, at the end of 2019, there were around 15,000 people unemployed in Helsinki whose mother tongue is not Finnish or Swedish, and that figure is expected to grow significantly.
Operating in conjunction with employment authorities during the coronavirus epidemic, the Helsinki Skills Center plan includes advisory services, education and job training opportunities.
The head of training at Helsinki Skills Center Frans Winstén said in a release that the intention is to upgrade efforts to help immigrant job-seekers particularly now under the exceptional circumstances created by the epidemic.
"We will evaluate the client's skills, map out an individual path towards working life or training, and prepare them for job interviews," Winstén added.
The Helsinki Skills Center telephone service is open daily 9–15 at 09 3102 8705. Services are available in Finnish and English, and in other languages when possible.
One more wolf down
Ringroad 3 which skirts the northern edge of Helsinki is locally called the "wolf boundary" - the joke being that beyond the capital's border lies nothing but untamed wilderness.
While not true, several papers, including the Swedish-language Hufvudstadsbladet, on Wednesday reported an example of how close some of the the wilder residents of the countryside really are.
On Tuesday, police, in cooperation with wildlife authorities put down a wolf in Espoo that had been sighted over a period of several weeks wandering close to human habitations in a wide area including Lohja, Veikkola, Kauniainen and Espoo.
The wolf, a male estimated at under two years of age and weighing in at 32 kilos had an injured front paw, had been seen limping on three legs and appeared to be malnourished.