Finland’s 36-Year-Old Prime Minister Goes Clubbing Until 4 AM Without Work Phone, Missing Text Telling Her to Quarantine

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Finland‘s 36-year-old prime minister went clubbing until 4 a.m. without her work phone and missed a text message that told her to quarantine.

Sanna Marin, who is the head of the Finnish government (whereas the president is the most powerful and is the head of state), was seen partying in the capital city of Helsinki on Saturday. She left her work phone at home, and missed a text message telling her to quarantine because Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto tested positive for the coronavirus hours earlier.

After she saw the text message on Sunday morning, Marin was tested and got a negative result.

Nonetheless, in a Facebook post (original written in Finnish embedded below), she explained the situation and apologized:

On Saturday evening my secretary of state called me on the parliament’s work phone and told me about the corona infection by Minister Pekka Haavisto. At the same time, he said that there will be no special measures on the matter and no ministers will be quarantined because everyone has two vaccines and full vaccine protection. I did not question the information I received because THL has given a similar instruction to the citizens. If you have received two vaccines, those who were exposed are not scheduled for a test or quarantine. So on Saturday, I have understood that the work of the members of the government council will continue normally, unless the health authority is contrary to the instructions.

…

I should have used better judgement on Saturday night and checked the instructions I got a second time. I’m really sorry that I didn’t understand how to do this.