Helsingin Sanomat asks this morning what can be done to prevent a second wave of the coronavirus, especially as Finland begins reopening its borders with the outside world.
HS writes that the first wave of the virus largely arrived to Finland through holidaymakers, especially Finns returning home from ski resorts in northern Italy, who continued their daily lives after arriving home without any mandate to self-quarantine. Mistakes such as these must be avoided if Finland is to prevent, or at least limit, the effects of a second wave, HS writes.
Jari Jalava, a leading specialist at the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), told HS that it was surprisingly rare for infections to spread on airplanes, but they usually do spread at destinations.
"Trying to avoid infections there is rule number one," Jalava said. "There you have to follow the same instructions as here. In other words, emphasis is placed on good hand hygiene, keeping distance, avoiding contact with sick people."
Jalava added that tourists from Finland should carefully consider the destinations to which they intend to travel, and plan how to avoid any risk of infection. Self-quarantine on the return home is still recommended, especially for those coming from countries with a more severe coronavirus situation.
"Quarantine is the best way to avoid the spread of infections here," Jalava said.
HS writes that authorities in Finland feel they are better prepared for the second wave than they were for the first. Measures, such as the mandatory wearing of masks by Finavia employees, that have been introduced to Finnish airports since February, are intended help minimise the risk of the virus spreading again.
"If the second wave of the pandemic is similar to the first, we will already have adequate safety and hygiene arrangements in place," Finavia’s Communications Manager Annika Kåla told HS.
Majority of consumers do not want telemarketing
Tabloid Iltalehti reports on an extensive study by the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority which found that nearly 75 percent of respondents felt telemarketing imposed on their privacy, and that telemarketers put pressure on them to buy goods or services.
The results of the survey have prompted the authority to call for the regulation of telephone sales and marketing in Finland to be significantly tightened, IL writes.
"Telemarketing causes so much harm to consumers that this cannot be ignored when assessing regulation," Consumer Ombudsman Katri Väänänen wrote in the authority's press release. "The majority of consumers do not want telephone marketing. They should have the right to decide what kind of direct marketing they want to receive."
The survey also found that more than 80 percent did not consider telemarketing a preferred or useful way to buy, and that as many as two-thirds of consumers would ban the practice entirely.
IL adds a list of the common complaints consumers have with telesales, which include contracts being sold as one-off or fixed-term but turning out to be deceptively continuous, with customers having to pay more for their order than originally agreed with the vendor over the phone.
The problems are often exacerbated by the fact that the sales situation comes as a surprise to the consumer and therefore requires quick decision-making. There is then limited opportunity for the customer to consider options, compare alternatives, or become familiar with the information relevant to the agreeing of the contract.
The Competition and Consumer Authority has previously recommended that telemarketing should only be directed at consumers who give an express permission that they wish to be contacted.
The honest, but not entirely happy, Finn
International media reports about Finland often make it into the news in Finland too, and a BBC travel report entitled "Why Finnish people tell the truth" is covered by a number of papers on Wednesday morning, including by the tabloid Ilta-Sanomat.
IS writes that journalist and writer Srishti Chaudhary was especially impressed by the honesty of Finns when she lost her hat shortly after arriving at Helsinki airport, but quickly found it sitting on a small Christmas tree, leading her to make an early assessment of Finnish culture.
"During my visit, I would slowly go on to discover that honesty is highly valued in society here and is the bedrock of all interaction: people are assumed to be honest all the time, and trust is implicit unless proven otherwise," Chaudhary wrote.
The writer was also eager to discover why Finland has been voted the "happiest country in the world" three years in a row, but found evidence of this trait to be harder to find.
"Honesty aside, the nation’s alleged happiness certainly wasn’t obvious," Chaudhary wrote. "To my eyes, Finns were helpful but not interfering, warm yet stoic, and clear but not extremely expressive."