As Norwegians Cancel Their Summer Holidays 'to avoid the heat', the Power of Agit-Prop is Revealed

Droves of Norwegians are Cancelling their 'Southern Holidays' to Avoid the Heat, or: A Testament to the Power of Propaganda

I stumbled across this report by Norwegian state broadcaster NRK the other day. And, lest you ask, by ‘stumbling’ I actually meant this literally as I almost fell off my chair reading this kind of BS.

Without much further ado, translation, emphases, and bottom lines mine.

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More People Want to Use Travel Insurance to Avoid the European Heatwave

Insurance companies are experiencing an influx of travellers who want to cancel their trip to the south. Public health officials say that travelling is fine, as long as you take precautions.

By Magnus Midtun, NRK, 21 July 2023

Caption reads: ‘Drink enough water and seek shade, and you’ll be fine’, says the section head [of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health].

Several insurance companies are experiencing increased demand from people asking whether their travel insurance covers cancellations due to the heatwaves in Europe.

‘Some of these people have been advised by their doctor not to travel, but we do not cover such cases’, explains Line Marcelius, Communications Manager at Gjensidige.

Therese Hofstad-Nielsen at Fremtind Forsikring says that they receive such requests for cancellation on a daily basis.

Travel insurance covers cancellation in the event of unforeseen events, such as acute illness, injury, or death in the immediate family.

Sigmund Clementz at If Forsikring, who has also received several requests for cancellation in recent weeks, explains that they do not cover cancellation in the event of ‘too good’ or ‘too bad’ weather.

Therefore, the European heatwave is not a good enough reason to get a refund on your travel insurance, even if your GP advises against travelling.

Caption reads: ‘temperatures up to and above 40 degrees [Celsius] do not trigger the right to use travel insurance. Here, a thermometer in Spain shows 38 degrees Celsius on Wednesday 19 July.’

Take Precautions and You’ll be Fine

But is it really necessary to stay at home even if the temperature in Europe exceeds 40 degrees centigrade?

Not according to Kristian Løvås, senior consultant for endocrine diseases at Haukeland Hospital [Bergen’s university hospital] and a specialist in internal and endocrine diseases.

If you’re healthy, we as a species are designed to withstand very large variations in stress, including temperature.

He explains that the risk of several potential hazards increases the warmer it gets. Some groups [vulnerable persons, anyone?] are more exposed to these hazards than others, adding that

There are also elderly and sick people living in these areas.

The section head primarily points to the elderly, people who use a lot of medication, and kidney and heart patients as the most vulnerable groups [here we goooooooo].

According to Løvås, if you are in one of these groups, you should still get far if you take certain precautions.

Løvås’ Precautions for Coping with the Heatwave

Make sure you drink plenty of water: to keep your body temperature down, you need sweat a lot. Then it is important to replace the lost water. If you don’t drink enough water, you can get heat stroke and increased body temperature. This can be life-threatening.

Get enough salt: You don’t just lose water. loss of salt can also be very high in intense heat. If you eat normal food, you usually get enough salt, so you need to have a certain appetite and make sure you eat well. If you don’t get enough salt, the worst that can happen is water poisoning, especially if you are very physically active in the heat.

Protect yourself from overheating: avoid being outside in the worst heat when the sun is high in the sky in the middle of the day. Find shade or stay indoors.

Avoid alcohol in large quantities: alcohol is a major risk factor for a number of reasons. Consuming too much alcohol impairs all the senses, including the sense of thirst, and makes it easier to become dehydrated. In addition, alcohol is low in salt.

Consider changes in medication use: if you use a lot of medication, especially vasodilators, you may find that in warmer climates these have a stronger effect. You should therefore, in collaboration with your GP, assess whether there is a need to change your medication if you are travelling to countries with extreme temperatures.

Travel Agencies Experiencing a Surge in Demand

The travel agencies NRK has been in contact with are not experiencing an increase in people cancelling their trips.

On the other hand, they see that most Norwegians would rather have a southern European heatwave than drizzle and autumn weather in July.

Norwegian Airlines has noticed a particular increase in bookings with departure shortly after booking.

Tui reports an increase of 10.9% this year for the period 25 June through 17 July, which Tui’s head of communications, Adam Györki, describes as a fairly sharp increase.

Tourism expert Odd Roar Lange believes the explanation may be a short summer travelling window, and that Norwegians underestimate how hot it actually is:

Many people probably think that ‘it can't be that hot’, and then they travel anyway. Then many people get a shock when they arrive and realise that 35 to 45 degrees Celsius is quite uncomfortable.

Apollo reports a surge in demand, especially for remaining places to Greece. She believes that Norwegians are keen travellers and handle the heat well.

This is supported by Clementz at If Forsikring, who reports few medical insurance claims as a result of the heat.

He believes that Norwegians are good at taking care of themselves when they are already travelling:

It seems that Norwegians cope well with the heat in the south. They are quite well prepared before travelling, and take precautions once they are there.

NOTE! As late as Tuesday, 18 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent out a message to all Norwegian tourists registered in Greece about the high risk of forest fires due to high temperatures and strong winds.

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Bottom Lines

What a nothingburger, eh? Still, the apparent discrepancy between the headline—which I presume was done by the editors overseeing publication—and the content is telling.

We’re inching ever closer to more and more ‘safety’ and pseudo-security in many things people have been engaged in for millennia, like, being outside in summer.

Guess what: there was no air-conditioning 5000 years ago, but for whatever reason, civilisation (as far as we know) emerged in quite warm climates, like Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the like. Back then, northern Europe was scarcely inhabited, if at-all.

Do we actually need that kind of fear-mongering?

It’s just another day in this crazy summer of 2023.

I do wonder how next year’s summer will be greeted.

Also, aren’t there any adults without serious mental problems left who ‘do’ journalism?

Sigh.