Sanna Marin, the Prime Minister of Finland, issued a public apology for going to a nightclub after having been exposed to COVID-19.
Her foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto, tested positive for the virus on Saturday, December 4th. The previous day, Marin and three other Finnish ministers attended a meeting with Haavisto. Rather than isolate, Marin went out to a club in Helsinki called Butchers.
While at the Club, Marin received a text message from government officials asking anyone who came into contact with Haavisto to isolate. The message went to her work phone, which she left at home, so she didn’t receive the message until a day later. She immediately received testing after the notice, and the results were negative.
Finnish COVID-19 guidelines state that fully vaccinated individuals aren’t required to self-isolate if they come into contact with an infected person. They strongly recommend isolating until they get tested, however.
In a TV interview, Marin said “I did wrong. I should have considered the situation more carefully.”
While faring better than other European countries, Finland has seen a steady increase in COVID-19 cases. On December 8th, 1,296 new cases were reported with a seven-day average of 1,338 cases.
