56 Shipyard Linked Infection: Mayor Calls on Government to Intervene – NRK Vestland

The infected person lives in Hyllestad and the neighboring municipality of Høyanger in western Norway. They are all employees of the shipyard or close contacts of the shipyard.

The number of infections has risen from 10 five days ago to 56 on Monday night.

The source of the infection is still unknown. But most of those who are now infected are foreign workers working in the shipyard.

Now Mayor Kjell Eide in Hyllestad has demanded that the government step in and consider stricter rules for labor immigration to the industry.

Nowadays, those coming from EU and EEA countries are believed to undergo tests upon arrival in Norway. If they are negative, everything works.

– I think one should review the schemes and see if it really is justifiable, says Mayor Kjell Eide.

The yard has tested everyone

52 people are infected and more than 500 are in quarantine in the small municipality of Hyllestad in Ytre Sogn, which only has about 1,300 inhabitants. In the neighboring town of Lavik, four people are infected. A total of 56 people connected to the courtyard are infected.

The shipyard with more than 400 employees was closed and all employees were tested.

– But we are still waiting for answers to many of the tests, says the mayor.

Now he hopes the government will reconsider regulations for labor immigration.

– There are serious consequences and then you have to ask yourself if the rules are too nice. “I don’t think this will only affect the shipyard with us, I think it can come in more shipyards,” says Eide.

The Havyard shipyard is by far the largest workplace in the Ytre Sogn region with more than 400 employees. Of these, more than half are labor hired abroad.

– You need labor

The daily camper at the shipyard, Erlend Hatleberg, tells NRK that they are now working hard to get an overview of the outbreak.

But he is clear that they need access to foreign workers to keep the cornerstone of the business going.

– It is clear that there is a risk when people come from red countries. We must manage it so that we take care of infection control in the best possible way, says Hatleberg.

The shipyard cannot sustain needs-based production with only local employees, he says.

– It will have consequences for our operations if there is a shutdown of the supply of labor, says Hatleberg.

Makes infection hotel in the courtyard.

The Hyllestad municipality sends a total of 15 of the new infections to Bergen and the infection hotel in Danmarksplass on Tuesday morning. Thus, about 30 of those infected are there.

The remaining 26 and possibly others who are infected live largely on the barracks platforms in the courtyard area.

There, the municipality, in collaboration with Havyard, will establish a local infection hotel.

– The challenge now is to control the infected, that’s what the buoy is now. We cannot allow them to walk as a team with others, says Mayor Kjell Eide.

Won’t change regulations

There have been reports of infection in several locations related to companies using foreign labor, including Askvoll Township in Sunnfjord.

However, NHO does not want to change the regulations that make it easier for companies to accept labor from the “red countries.”

First you have to find out why the infection occurred, says NHO chief Nina Melsom.

– We have great knowledge that infection control is important. It is important for employees, it is important for companies and the population. So now we have to work to better understand what happened in these cases, says Melsom.