Greenland has eleven diagnosed cases of coronavirus, all in the capital, Nuuk. The first reported case was on March 16. Ten have now recovered, leaving one person still ill in home quarantine. One person in Greenland’s population of 56,000. One person in Nuuk’s population of almost 18,000. The Premier’s updated response yesterday was to extend the lockdown in Nuuk until May 1st. This means no flights in or out, no boat transport to other settlements, schools and daycares closed until further notice, no gatherings of more than ten people, a total ban on alcohol sales, and work from home orders for all government employees. It may seem like overkill but Greenland has a high proportion of people in high risk demographics and limited health care facilities, particularly in the settlements where many have not only no clinics, but no medical staff whatsoever. Stamping out Covid-19 locally seems like a wise first step.
But what this means is that, like other countries, other communities, many people are under pressure. Parents are juggling working from home, home schooling, and taking care of small children. Teachers are struggling to learn overnight, on the job, how to recreate and deliver a curriculum for their classes through distance learning. People have had their wages cut or lost their jobs. And businesses, large and small, are struggling to makes ends meet in the short term, and plan for the longer term, which generally means closing the doors and firing employees.
Stressful times.
So it was also for Greenland’s Minister for Education, Culture, Church and Foreign Affairs, who on March 13, just days before the lockdown, and with the government and community in a heightened state of alert and anticipation, announced that she was taking fourteen days stress leave, having travelled the previous day up the coast to Ilulisat to relax with her family. It’s not the first time a Greenland government minister has taken stress leave, or indeed stepped down citing stress as the cause. The latter seems reasonable. If one can’t manage what is undoubtedly a difficult job and it is affecting one’s health, then stepping down is sensible for everyone’s sake. But what about taking leave for a couple of weeks or – in this case, owing to the circumstances of being now locked out of Nuuk – significantly more than a couple of weeks? For the short and possibly the medium term there’s no returning to Nuuk, where Greenland’s government is swamped with unprecedented decision-making in the face of a continually unfolding crisis. What must the workload be like for the minister now covering two portfolios to handle the absentee at the head of Education, Culture, Church and Foreign Affairs, at a time that is presenting one of the greatest unanticipated challenges to Greenland’s education sector in modern times?
I wonder what UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson would think? Until he was moved to intensive case on Sunday, suffering Covid-19, Boris was apparently still leading his government’s response to the coronavirus crisis, presumably working through the red box from his hospital bed.
Ilulisat sounds like a quite relaxing option just now.
