Norwegian public health officials have not said the coronavirus is no more dangerous than the flu

From the early stages of the pandemic, coronavirus skeptics downplayed the virus’s risks by misleadingly comparing it to the flu.

A new version of that claim has appeared on a website, which says Norway recently changed its approach to the virus, proving it was not dangerous to begin with.

“Norway has reclassified COVID-19 as common flu,” reads the big title from an article published on World Today News.

“Norway decides that (the coronavirus) should be treated like other respiratory illnesses, like the flu or the common cold, because, according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, it is not more dangerous than those mentioned”, reads. on in the body of the text.

The post was reported as part of Facebook’s efforts to tackle fake news and disinformation on its news feed. (Learn more about our Partnership with Facebook.)

Norway lifted social distancing rules and other pandemic-era restrictions on September 25, 2021. However, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health told PolitiFact that World Today News’ claim is a misinterpretation of his position.

“It is not correct that the Norwegian Institute of Public Health claimed that ‘Covid-19 is no more dangerous than regular flu’,” a spokesperson for the institute said.

The misunderstanding appears to stem from comments Geir Bukholm, deputy director of NIPH, made in an interview with the Norwegian newspaper VG.

“We are now in a new phase where we have to look at the coronavirus as one of the many respiratory diseases with seasonal variations,” he told VG.

However, in another part of the interview, Bukholm explains that the reason for this new approach is the high vaccination rate in Norway. Because of the fact that over 90% of the Norwegian population over 18 had only one injection and 84% were fully immunized, the country has managed to ease the burden on its healthcare system, he said.

More last week, Norwegian hospital systems have reported fewer than 15 COVID-19-related hospitalizations per day.

As a result, continued Bukholm, the coronavirus should now be considered a danger similar to that of other respiratory diseases “in Norway and in many countries with good vaccination coverage”. Because most vaccinated people infected with the virus show only mild symptoms, similar to those of the common cold, “the coronavirus … joins the ranks of other respiratory illnesses such as the common cold and the seasonal flu”.

“This doesn’t mean that coronavirus disease and seasonal flu are similar,” the NIPH spokesperson told PolitiFact. “At the individual level, people need to receive the appropriate treatment for the specific disease. We will continuously monitor the epidemiology of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses and be prepared to respond differently (if) the circumstances worsen.”

Our decision

A website claimed that Norway had decided “that (the coronavirus) should be treated like other respiratory illnesses, like the flu or the common cold, because … it is not more dangerous than those mentioned”.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health said this was a misinterpretation of its position.

The deputy director of the institute said in an interview that Norway should change the way it views the disease, as the vast majority of the Norwegian population has been fully vaccinated. He did not say that the coronavirus is not more dangerous than the flu but that most vaccinated people who are infected with the virus only experience cold symptoms.

We assess this claim as false.