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UNREPORTED: The municipal chief doctor Anders Brabrand and the mayor of the Rune Støstadi Nord-Fron municipality say they were unaware that there had been a transfer of new residents to their asylum reception in Vinstra. It is in connection with the measure that the outbreak is said to have started, as the preliminary detection of infection shows. Photo: Erik Tøftestuen
Several of those infected were recently transferred from other receptions. Now the mayor is reacting, who says he was not informed about the measure.
43 people connected to the asylum reception center at Vinstra in Nord-Fron are now infected. A total of 110 people live there.
The municipality is now working on a leading theory that the infection is due to several asylum seekers being transferred from one reception center to theirs in Vinstra.
Nord-Fron Mayor Rune Støstad tells VG that neither he nor the municipal head knew about the new residents who moved into the reception in early November.
They first discovered it while monitoring the infection.
CROWN: The municipality of Nord-Fron is now affected by a major outbreak. The picture shows the town hall of Vinstra. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum
– It was a little shock when we saw the high numbers. We didn’t know there was an infection there until we located it.
Now they are working on the theory that the infection comes from the transfer from one reception center to another, something that the mayor believes should not happen in the current infection situation.
– It is a practice in which we believe that we should not participate now in the situation in which Norway finds itself.
Respond that the municipality was not involved:
– If now it is going to move between neighbors, the municipalities, which have the responsibility of infection control, must be involved. There should be guidelines that need to be implemented centrally and then quarantined.
The mayor believes that the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) should have notified them in advance, so that they could initiate the necessary infection control measures.
– It’s a desperate situation. At the same time, phenomenal work has been done in tracking infections. We were the first municipality in the Interior to be affected, so we have good experience in detecting infections.
UDI: was notified
The UDI informs VG that they have close contact between the reception and the municipality:
– We have routines to notify the municipality in case of new arrivals of residents, says regional director Siv Kjelstrup.
He adds that operations operator Sana has contacted the municipal / infection control doctor about infection control advice for reception at Vinstra.
Relevant to get the healthy out of the reception
The municipal chief doctor, Anders Brabrand, explains to VG why they assume that the transmission path comes from the transfer:
– After receiving an overview of the arrival dates, we saw a pattern that a part that tested positive was transferred to reception around November 6th. This corresponds to the incubation time.
He would also like to know about the move before they found out amid the infection trail:
– We would like to be informed about it, both for us and for the reception.
Brabrand says residents stay in the room until they make a new plan. It is important to provide accommodation for the healthy in other places.
– I feel sorry for them
Although there is control of the transmission routes, more positive samples are expected.
– When the infection first enters a place where people live close to each other, such as at a reception, it does not surprise me that the infection spreads to so many people, says the municipal chief physician, Anders Brabrand.
The mayor points out that it is a precarious situation for the neighbors of the reception.
– I feel great compassion and sorry for those who sit at the reception. Many are fleeing war and suffering, and are already challenging.
– Now many, completely unjustified, also get sick and have to sit in isolation for 10 days. I think everyone understands how difficult it can be, says Støstad.
