On 12 March 2020, Norway recorded its first death from COVID-19.
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Health Minister Bent Høie, Director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health Camilla Stoltenberg, and Director General of Health Bjørn Guldvog were visibly affected by the seriousness of the situation when they met the press. They announced that the country would be going into lockdown.
Schools and kindergartens, universities and university colleges were closed with immediate effect. People were told to go home from work, and children received online schooling at home.
“I believe closing schools was the stupidest thing we did,” said Oddveig Storstad, a professor at NTNU’s Department of Teacher Education.
Storstad is the national coordinator for the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), an international study on lower secondary school pupils’ knowledge and understanding of democracy and citizenship. It focuses on participation and involvement in society and politics.
“We collected data in 2022 during the period we were emerging from the pandemic and schools had started functioning normally again. When I saw the results, I became concerned.”
School refusal more widespread
Among all the participating countries, Norway was the one where the results had declined the most from 2016 to 2022.
“The lockdown is not entirely to blame. But in addition to the learning loss, the closure of schools likely contributed to amplifying some negative trends,” Storstad said.
Storstad points out that many school pupils are becoming increasingly unmotivated in relation to school and education.
“Among other things, we see that school refusal is a problem that has increased after the pandemic,” he said.
In 2016, when the researchers asked Norwegian Year 9 pupils how long they wanted to pursue their education, 4.6% of the pupils responded that they did not intend to continue beyond compulsory lower secondary school level. By 2022, this figure had increased to 13.9%.
“Of course, these pupils know that discontinuing their education after Year 10 is not a realistic option—so they continue on to upper secondary school, but with much lower motivation. This is confirmed when we conduct tests. So, I don’t think we should close schools again,” said Storstad.
More cautious about infection after COVID-19
Linda Ernstsen’s main research interest is the correlation between physical activity and brain health. She has studied how the pandemic affected the subsequent use of antidepressants.
“We found that people who were in good physical shape before the pandemic were the ones who had the highest usage of antidepressants from pharmacies after the pandemic. That was a bit surprising, but it might be because this is a group with exercise habits that depend on being at a fitness center or training with other people,” explained Ernstsen.
Ernstsen uses data from the HUNT Study (The Trøndelag Health Study) in her research. Now, five years later, she says that there is no evidence suggesting that people are less physically active than before the pandemic.
However, young people’s mental health shows a different trend.
“It has not returned to the previous level. Although this is probably a development that started long before the pandemic,” said Ernstsen.
The previous HUNT Study, HUNT 4, was completed before the pandemic started. Even then, there was an increase in depressive symptoms and higher use of antidepressants among young people, especially young girls. Ernstsen hopes that a fifth HUNT survey will soon be conducted.
“It cannot be ruled out that the pandemic and lockdown are still having repercussions. But studies of long-term effects must span over many years. Some types of diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, take a long time to develop. There are many things we still don’t know, and we need new data. Since the infection control measures were managed very differently in different countries, it is also important to study trends in Norway,” she said.
New RSV vaccine
The researcher believes that despite illness and poor mental health, the pandemic also had some positives.
“I think we have become more careful—and better at both avoiding catching infectious illnesses and preventing them from spreading to other people. Several employers have started offering vaccines to their employees. We have returned to hugging each other, but now more of us are likely to cover our mouths when we cough and wash our hands when we get home,” said Ernstsen.
If the pandemic made people more conscientious about infection control, it had an even greater impact on the pharmaceutical industry and the development of new vaccines. Sven Even Borgos is a senior researcher at SINTEF’s Department of Biotechnology and Nanomedicine. He talks passionately about mRNA and the new technology platform that has been established after COVID-19.
“It used to take eight to 10 years to develop a vaccine. But it only took 11 months from the SARS-CoV-2 being gene-sequenced in January 2020 to the first vaccine being administered to a human! The development of vaccines has accelerated tremendously,” he said.
He is convinced that this technology will help us when a new pandemic strikes the world. The new vaccine technology, where small pieces of genetic material—mRNA—are used instead of the entire virus in the vaccine, has already led to a new RSV vaccine.
RSV is a common cause of respiratory infections in newborns and infants, and can cause severe illness in elderly people and very young children.
Cancer vaccines
The use of mRNA is a platform technology, which means that the same development process can be used to create medicines for a range of diseases. Melanoma, prostate cancer, stomach cancer and ovarian cancer—these are just a few of the types of cancer for which vaccines are now being developed.
“Three areas in particular are receiving a lot of focus at the moment—cancer, with therapeutic cancer vaccines, infectious diseases, and metabolic diseases. mRNA research had been conducted for several decades before COVID-19, but it was COVID-19 that really got the ball rolling,” explained Borgos.
Still couch potatoes
But let’s get back to people’s everyday lives: How has the pandemic and the lockdown affected most people’s lives? Did we take the opportunity to develop new and better habits?
“During the pandemic, many people envisioned they would cycle more than before. But the figures do not show such a change as the plans would suggest,” said Winnie Ma.
She studies people’s travel habits and believes that, for the most part, people behave the same way as before the pandemic.
“Right after the pandemic, many people said they were worried about contracting diseases if they took public transport, or when asked about international travel. We now see that domestic travel numbers are back to normal, and international travel numbers are following suit,” said Ma.
In 2021, the researchers asked people if there was anything in their lives they wanted to change.
“Many people said they wanted to spend more time outdoors. In 2023, we asked people what they were doing more or less of, and it turned out that people were not spending more time outdoors than before. So, people’s habits do not really change,” said Ma.
However, one thing that has definitely changed after COVID-19 is that more people are working from home. According to the travel researcher, it has some clear advantages.
“Working from home reduces rush hour traffic for trains and buses. Society loses out when people are stuck in traffic—traffic jams cause delays for all types of transportation and make it less attractive to use buses and trains as modes of transport.”
Management more difficult after COVID-19
Working from home is here to stay, according to chief researcher Nils Brede Moe at SINTEF Digital.
“What we have learned through the pandemic is that almost all work can be done from anywhere. The pandemic was the world’s largest training project in which we debunked a number of myths,” said Moe.
He is currently conducting a study where they are tracking 50 companies from around the world.
“We see that some companies are becoming a bit more restrictive, but changing the policy does not necessarily mean that people actually come into the office. We find that when individuals and teams are allowed to decide for themselves, the majority of people choose to work from the office. Allowing people to decide for themselves is a much stronger mechanism than having the managers decide,” said Moe.
While people are continuing to work from home, they are also working more.
“The factor that has the greatest influence on the choice is the time it takes to commute to work. We see that one-third of the time saved by working from home is actually used for work.
At the same time, managers’ jobs have become more challenging. How do you exercise management when you are not with the people you are supposed to be managing?
Those who succeed are perhaps the ones who understand how to use the time they spend together effectively and make coming to the office attractive,” suggested Moe.
Perhaps the biggest changes involve the simplest of things.
“Having a good lunch is more important now than it was before,” Moe said.
Citation:
COVID-19: Five years since lockdown—what has Norway learned? (2025, April 29)
retrieved 29 April 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-covid-years-lockdown-norway.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
On 12 March 2020, Norway recorded its first death from COVID-19. Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Health Minister Bent Høie, Director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health Camilla Stoltenberg, and Director General of Health Bjørn Guldvog were visibly affected by the seriousness of the situation when they met the press. They announced that the country would be going into lockdown. Schools and kindergartens, universities and university colleges were closed with immediate effect. People were told to go home from work, and children received online schooling at home. “I believe closing schools was the stupidest thing we did,” said Oddveig Storstad, a professor at NTNU’s Department of Teacher Education. Storstad is the national coordinator for the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), an international study on lower secondary school pupils’ knowledge and understanding of democracy and citizenship. It focuses on participation and involvement in society and politics. “We collected data in 2022 during the period we were emerging from the pandemic and schools had started functioning normally again. When I saw the results, I became concerned.” Among all the participating countries, Norway was the one where the results had declined the most from 2016 to 2022. “The lockdown is not entirely to blame. But in addition to the learning loss, the closure of schools likely contributed to amplifying some negative trends,” Storstad said. Storstad points out that many school pupils are becoming increasingly unmotivated in relation to school and education. “Among other things, we see that school refusal is a problem that has increased after the pandemic,” he said. In 2016, when the researchers asked Norwegian Year 9 pupils how long they wanted to pursue their education, 4.6% of the pupils responded that they did not intend to continue beyond compulsory lower secondary school level. By 2022, this figure had increased to 13.9%. “Of course, these pupils know that discontinuing their education after Year 10 is not a realistic option—so they continue on to upper secondary school, but with much lower motivation. This is confirmed when we conduct tests. So, I don’t think we should close schools again,” said Storstad. Linda Ernstsen’s main research interest is the correlation between physical activity and brain health. She has studied how the pandemic affected the subsequent use of antidepressants. “We found that people who were in good physical shape before the pandemic were the ones who had the highest usage of antidepressants from pharmacies after the pandemic. That was a bit surprising, but it might be because this is a group with exercise habits that depend on being at a fitness center or training with other people,” explained Ernstsen. Ernstsen uses data from the HUNT Study (The Trøndelag Health Study) in her research. Now, five years later, she says that there is no evidence suggesting that people are less physically active than before the pandemic. However, young people’s mental health shows a different trend. “It has not returned to the previous level. Although this is probably a development that started long before the pandemic,” said Ernstsen. The previous HUNT Study, HUNT 4, was completed before the pandemic started. Even then, there was an increase in depressive symptoms and higher use of antidepressants among young people, especially young girls. Ernstsen hopes that a fifth HUNT survey will soon be conducted. “It cannot be ruled out that the pandemic and lockdown are still having repercussions. But studies of long-term effects must span over many years. Some types of diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, take a long time to develop. There are many things we still don’t know, and we need new data. Since the infection control measures were managed very differently in different countries, it is also important to study trends in Norway,” she said. The researcher believes that despite illness and poor mental health, the pandemic also had some positives. “I think we have become more careful—and better at both avoiding catching infectious illnesses and preventing them from spreading to other people. Several employers have started offering vaccines to their employees. We have returned to hugging each other, but now more of us are likely to cover our mouths when we cough and wash our hands when we get home,” said Ernstsen. If the pandemic made people more conscientious about infection control, it had an even greater impact on the pharmaceutical industry and the development of new vaccines. Sven Even Borgos is a senior researcher at SINTEF’s Department of Biotechnology and Nanomedicine. He talks passionately about mRNA and the new technology platform that has been established after COVID-19. “It used to take eight to 10 years to develop a vaccine. But it only took 11 months from the SARS-CoV-2 being gene-sequenced in January 2020 to the first vaccine being administered to a human! The development of vaccines has accelerated tremendously,” he said. He is convinced that this technology will help us when a new pandemic strikes the world. The new vaccine technology, where small pieces of genetic material—mRNA—are used instead of the entire virus in the vaccine, has already led to a new RSV vaccine. RSV is a common cause of respiratory infections in newborns and infants, and can cause severe illness in elderly people and very young children. The use of mRNA is a platform technology, which means that the same development process can be used to create medicines for a range of diseases. Melanoma, prostate cancer, stomach cancer and ovarian cancer—these are just a few of the types of cancer for which vaccines are now being developed. “Three areas in particular are receiving a lot of focus at the moment—cancer, with therapeutic cancer vaccines, infectious diseases, and metabolic diseases. mRNA research had been conducted for several decades before COVID-19, but it was COVID-19 that really got the ball rolling,” explained Borgos. But let’s get back to people’s everyday lives: How has the pandemic and the lockdown affected most people’s lives? Did we take the opportunity to develop new and better habits? “During the pandemic, many people envisioned they would cycle more than before. But the figures do not show such a change as the plans would suggest,” said Winnie Ma. She studies people’s travel habits and believes that, for the most part, people behave the same way as before the pandemic. “Right after the pandemic, many people said they were worried about contracting diseases if they took public transport, or when asked about international travel. We now see that domestic travel numbers are back to normal, and international travel numbers are following suit,” said Ma. In 2021, the researchers asked people if there was anything in their lives they wanted to change. “Many people said they wanted to spend more time outdoors. In 2023, we asked people what they were doing more or less of, and it turned out that people were not spending more time outdoors than before. So, people’s habits do not really change,” said Ma. However, one thing that has definitely changed after COVID-19 is that more people are working from home. According to the travel researcher, it has some clear advantages. “Working from home reduces rush hour traffic for trains and buses. Society loses out when people are stuck in traffic—traffic jams cause delays for all types of transportation and make it less attractive to use buses and trains as modes of transport.” Working from home is here to stay, according to chief researcher Nils Brede Moe at SINTEF Digital. “What we have learned through the pandemic is that almost all work can be done from anywhere. The pandemic was the world’s largest training project in which we debunked a number of myths,” said Moe. He is currently conducting a study where they are tracking 50 companies from around the world. “We see that some companies are becoming a bit more restrictive, but changing the policy does not necessarily mean that people actually come into the office. We find that when individuals and teams are allowed to decide for themselves, the majority of people choose to work from the office. Allowing people to decide for themselves is a much stronger mechanism than having the managers decide,” said Moe. While people are continuing to work from home, they are also working more. “The factor that has the greatest influence on the choice is the time it takes to commute to work. We see that one-third of the time saved by working from home is actually used for work. At the same time, managers’ jobs have become more challenging. How do you exercise management when you are not with the people you are supposed to be managing? Those who succeed are perhaps the ones who understand how to use the time they spend together effectively and make coming to the office attractive,” suggested Moe. Perhaps the biggest changes involve the simplest of things. “Having a good lunch is more important now than it was before,” Moe said. Citation: This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
School refusal more widespread
More cautious about infection after COVID-19
New RSV vaccine
Cancer vaccines
Still couch potatoes
Management more difficult after COVID-19
COVID-19: Five years since lockdown—what has Norway learned? (2025, April 29)
retrieved 29 April 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-covid-years-lockdown-norway.html
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
