Norway public health officials did not say that the coronavirus is no more dangerous than the flu

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

A new version of this claim has popped up on a website, which says that Norway has recently shifted its approach to the virus, proving that it wasn’t dangerous to begin with. 

"Norway has reclassified COVID-19 as a common flu," reads the headline of an article published on World Today News. 

"Norway decides that (the coronavirus) should be treated like other respiratory diseases, such as the flu or cold, because, according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, it is no more dangerous than those mentioned," reads the body text. 

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

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

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

The misunderstanding appears to have originated from comments that Geir Bukholm, the assistant director of the NIPH, made in an interview with Norwegian news outlet VG. 

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"We are now in a new phase where we must look at the coronavirus as one of several respiratory diseases with seasonal variation," he told VG. 

However, in a different part of the interview, Bukholm explains that the reason for this new approach is Norway’s high vaccination rate. Due to the fact that over 90% of Norway’s population over the age of 18 has had one shot and 84% have been fully vaccinated, the nation has successfully alleviated the burden to its healthcare system, he says. 

Over the last week, Norway hospital systems have reported fewer than 15 COVID-19 hospitalizations per day. 

As a result, Bukholm continued, the coronavirus should now be viewed as similar in danger to other respiratory diseases "in Norway and in many countries that have good vaccine coverage." Because most vaccinated people infected with the virus experience only mild, cold-like symptoms, "the coronavirus … joins the ranks of other respiratory diseases such as colds and seasonal flu." 

"This does not mean that illness from coronavirus and the seasonal flu are similar," the NIPH spokesperson told PolitiFact. "On an individual level, people must receive the correct treatment for the specific disease. We will be continuously following the epidemiology of both COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases and will be prepared to react differently (if) circumstances worsen." 

A website claimed that Norway decided "that (the coronavirus) should be treated like other respiratory diseases, such as the flu or cold, because... it is no more dangerous than those mentioned."

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

The assistant director of the institute said in an interview that Norway should shift the way it views the disease, because the vast majority of Norway’s population has been fully vaccinated. He did not say that the coronavirus is no more dangerous than the flu but that most vaccinated people who are infected with the virus experience only cold-like symptoms. 

We rate this claim False. ​