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On Thursday, the municipality of Fredrikstad stated that it had registered six new cases of infection dating back to training in Østfoldhallen on February 9. But the cases are linked to four different teams, who have not used the room at the same time.
Dagbladet asked Deputy Health Director Espen Rostrup Nakstad how this is possible. You suspect it may be due to an airborne infection.
– If a contagious person is present in a gym, be it an ice rink such as Halden’s or a normal gym, and they breathe very strongly in connection with training, small droplets may be released and remain suspended in the air for quite a long time. weather. long time. There may be an explanation for the fact that it can become infected even after the person has left the place, that is, such small droplets of virus particles remain that they can infect it, Nakstad tells Dagbladet and continues:
– There may be an explanation, and this with airborne infections is a much more current problem now that we have the most infectious virus variants.
LIVING ROOM: Østfoldhallene includes a shopping center and a large sports hall with a full-size soccer field. It is the sports hall that the four teams must have used. Photo: Erik Johansen NTB
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FHI on air pollution
Nakstad emphasizes that it is not known exactly what happened at the Fredrikstad sports hall, and that it can be difficult to find out.
It also does not rule out that it may have been caused by a contact infection, that is, that an infected person has coughed or sneezed into a door handle, for example, and that other people in this way have virus particles on their hands and enter in contact with, for example, the eyes or nose.
– But this with an airborne infection that we at least recognize from the eruption on this ice rink in Halden, probably. So it’s a problem, says Nakstad.
In October, the National Institute of Public Health stated that it agreed with the conclusions of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on covid-19 and airborne infections, but especially the conclusion The main thing that it is much more common for the coronavirus to spread. through droplet infection between people in close contact.
The CDC’s knowledge update was that airborne infection with covid-19 can occur in closed rooms with poor ventilation and that, in some cases, it may have occurred in connection with activities that have resulted in heavy breathing such as sing or exercise.
At that time, it was said that in this way one could be infected even at a distance of 1.8 meters, not that the virus particles could be left hanging in the room.
Explain
The deputy director of Health Nakstad explains the connection between covid-19 and airborne infections.
– When viruses become more contagious, fewer virus particles are required to become infected. This means that these tiny droplets that we secrete when we speak, scream, wheeze, exercise, cough or sneeze, can also contain enough virus particles to become infected, says Nakstad and continues:
– The difference between large and small drops is that the larger drops are so big that gravity pulls them towards the ground so they don’t fall too far away from you. But the smaller droplets are not as heavy and often float more in the air and can stay in the air for a long time. This is what we call aerosols or airborne infections.
