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MUNICIPAL SUPERVISOR: Kerstin Myhrvold, municipal chief physician at Nordre Follo, here during a press conference on the crown measures in the municipality on January 23. Photo: Fredrik Hagen, NTB
On Saturday, the municipality of Nordre Follo chose to continue with the strict measures in kindergartens and schools. At the presidency meeting later in the day, the municipal leadership discussed the decision.
Here, municipal chief physician Kerstin Myhrvold noted that the situation with the mutated virus remains unclear.
Because while on Saturday the government announced valid relays from Wednesday for most of the 25 municipalities in eastern Norway that have been closed, the red level in kindergartens and schools in Nordre Follo will run until February 8.
However, the municipality follows the other infection control measures adopted by the government.
On Saturday, however, the child’s advocate, Inga Bejer Engh, called on municipalities to be careful when introducing their own strict rules and warned that more people could drop out of education as a result of the strict measures.
On Saturday evening, VG spoke with the municipal chief doctor Kerstin Myhrvold in Nordre Follo about the reasons why they have continued the red level, despite the call from the Ombudsman for Children.
Kindergartens and elementary schools in the municipality have been closed in the week that was as a result of the outbreak, while secondary schools have been at the red level. Monday opens everything on the red level.
As of Saturday night, 71 of those infected in the municipality had been shown to be infected with the variant of the English virus, the figure has not changed since Friday.
– What do you think of the Ombudsman’s warning against red levels due to the increased chances of young people dropping out of school?
– I totally agree with the Ombudsman for Children. But if the alternative is closure or the infection situation spirals out of control, the red level is at least a situation where children come to school and are seen, Myhrvold says, adding:
– Obviously, we also want the lowest possible action load for children and young people. It is not with a happy heart that we make such assessments, but right now it is necessary in Norway’s chosen strategy against the pandemic.
Myhrvold says that the municipality wanted to be in a different infection situation and that they see that “the burden of action for this group is very great.”
– At the same time, we must make responsible decisions and, in general, the red level of action is what I consider to be the right thing to do now.
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– Why has the red level continued in schools?
– At Nordre Follo, we have several ongoing and partly unsolved school outbreaks, and we see that the spread of the infection also occurs in the school itself. It is mainly because of this unresolved situation in the schools that we follow at the red level, he says and adds:
– We seek to reach the yellow level as soon as possible, preferably on Monday, February 8.
He emphasizes that it was not “many days” that the municipality was in a “completely unresolved” situation with respect to the variant of the English virus.
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– We still do not have a complete description of the prevalence of this in the group of children and young people in particular.
Myhrvold further claims that several hundred people are still in quarantine associated with the outbreaks in schools and kindergartens.
– Why do you think schools and kindergartens are a threat to the infection picture?
– If we don’t address the spread of the infection, it could be an uncontrolled situation. The red level is an alternative to closure, so the measure is that students can be physically at school so that they can be seen and receive the best possible teaching.
The municipal chief believes that children and young people would have been much more affected if the infection got out of control, because it would mean a total closure. The municipality will also continue the red level only in certain schools if necessary, as soon as possible.
Missing responses to multiple samples from Tårnåsen
There has been a large increase in the number of infections associated with the Tårnåsen school in recent days, and there are now 15 infected in the school.
At the presidency meeting on Saturday, Myhrvold said several of them are missing several of the results of tests taken by people from the school that will be analyzed by the National Institute of Public Health.
OPEN: Tårnåsen school was closed this week, on Monday February 1st the school opens on the red level. Photo: Terje Bringedal, VG
– We must clarify that the infection at the Tårnåsen school is not a mutated virus, he tells VG.
At another school in the municipality, Kolbotn, the outbreak was found to be double, some of the samples showing a mutated virus, while others showed the common coronavirus.
Myhrvold says the municipality has so far only received “some test results” from FHI out of the total 34 infected people who are connected to the outbreak in Tårnåsen.
– The arrow points to the fact that it has not mutated in Tårnåsen, but we cannot conclude yet, it says.
