HELSINKI, April 18 (Xinhua) -- After six weeks of closure due to the COVID-19 lockdown, restaurants, cafes, bars and nightclubs throughout Finland will re-open their doors on Monday. And the Finns are looking forward to returning to normal life as the government is planning to gradually ease the restrictions.
BIG BLOW
For people like Eevamaria Halttunen, a Finnish drama pedagogue who enjoys face-to-face communication, the desire to end such an isolated lifestyle is strong.
"All my workshops were canceled, and I have not been wanting to keep them online, as I love the personal aspect of being in the same space with people and working with them through lectures and workshops," the 52-year-old told Xinhua.
According to a recent survey, the arts and recreation industry in Finland is facing losses of up to 700 million euros (838.6 million U.S. dollars) this year due to the pandemic.
The pandemic dealt a heavy blow not only to jobs but also people's personal lives.
The life of Janita Eskelinen, an airline ground crew member, was turned upside down. At the age of 43, she found herself laid off at the beginning of the pandemic, and later completely dismissed by the employer.
"This was a big blow to me and made me depressed," she said.
NEW NORMAL
Halttunen has been working online for over a year as a therapist. It has been her job to help clients develop better emotional skills, reduce stress, and cope with various life challenges. Due to the pandemic, all these were done behind the computer screen.
"It was difficult first, as I felt that it was more difficult to get a personal feeling with my clients online, but has begun to be as normal," she said. "We are all used to this way of working now."
The epidemic has brought some unexpected benefits.
"As everything is online, it's easy now to have clients from everywhere in Finland, so in a way the epidemic has made my work more accessible to more clients," Halttunen noted.
After almost a nervous breakdown, Eskelinen managed to find her a silver lining of life during the pandemic too.
"I gradually adapted to my current way of life after about a year. While taking care of the family and children, I have been taking online professional training courses to prepare for getting a job again after the pandemic," she said.
New FUTURE
"Our goal is that when school ends, children can go to summer camps and people can start planning midsummer parties at the cottage," Prime Minister Sanna Marin told a news conference in early April.
The government's draft exit plan, which plans to gradually ease the restrictions, was believed to depend on the rollout of vaccines.
A total of 3-4 million doses of the various coronavirus vaccines will be available by the end of June, the Department of Health and Welfare (THL) informed this week.
"The news is encouraging, as it will make coronavirus vaccination available to more and more people faster," said Mia Kontio, THL's leading expert.
Halttunen is looking forward to the vaccination, as "it seems to be the only way for a freer way of life."
For Eskelinen, she hopes that the extensive vaccination can "restore society to normal as soon as possible". "But I don't know when it will happen," she admitted.
In fact, Eeva Ruotsalainen, Deputy Chief Physician of Helsinki-Uusimaa Hospital District (HUS), which covers 24 municipalities in southern Finland, including the capital area, warned lately that there is "no time of sighs of relief yet," as the number of daily new cases is still at a high level.
"I am starting to think that the epidemic will change its way, there will be new forms of development of the virus, and at some point, it will either change into the less dangerous flu-type virus and we can start living the same as earlier," said Halttunen.
"Or in case the virus keeps changing and being dangerous, we will have to accept that we cannot keep the society closed, and will have to try to live with the dangerous virus as well as we can for a few years," she continued. "It really is a mystery at the moment." (1 euro = 1.20 U.S. dollars) Enditem